


The Object: Second Threat

by Markov_Debris



Series: The Object [2]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M, Series Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-20
Updated: 2017-09-23
Packaged: 2018-12-31 21:48:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 35
Words: 46,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12141828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Markov_Debris/pseuds/Markov_Debris
Summary: Time has passed but the events surrounding the Object Alarm aren’t over yet.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> This is the second part of the Object and it is set during season two after A Day in the Death. It does mention some events that occur in my Company Series/Awaking Universe but you don't have to read those stories in order to enjoy this one. I will add it to the Awaking Universe once I have added those other stories for those wishing to read in chronological order. I hope you enjoy.

Jack climbed out of his room into his office just as Ianto came in holding a cup of coffee and carrying a huge pile of papers.

“Good morning,” Ianto said crossing to the desk.

He put the coffee down and began to re-arrange the papers into different piles.

“I need to spend some more time in the Tourist Information Office today so I thought I would come in early to work a little in the archives.  Owen finally handed in his mission reports for the last three weeks…”

Jack stood behind Ianto as he spoke.  The Welshman’s words washed soothingly through Jack’s mind, unbroken as Jack put his arms around him.

The young man just continued to talk and organise his admin as Jack undid the buttons first of Ianto’s jacket then a few of the ones on his pale pink shirt.

Jack slid his right hand inside Ianto’s shirt to caress the soft skin then pulled him back so that the young man was leaning against him.

They stood there and Jack absorbed Ianto through his senses.  His softly lilting voice, his clean smell and his comfortable pressure against Jack’s chest.

Suddenly Jack realised that Ianto had stopped talking.  The slight turn of Ianto’s head indicated that whatever he had said he was waiting for a response.

“What?” Jack asked half-heartedly.

Ianto turned around in Jack’s arms to face him, Jack’s hand sliding smoothly out of Ianto’s shirt but was still touching him.  The young man’s looked at him carefully, his expression half concern, half amusement.

“I said don’t think you can get out of doing your admin that way.   Some of this is getting rather urgent,” there was amusement in his voice accompanied with a very slight smile.

Impulsively Jack kissed him.  Ianto held onto him to steady himself.  The kiss was returned with a passion you would not expect from a man who had been trying to enforce bureaucracy upon him moments before.

Minutes later when they broke apart Ianto eyes had a curious look.  Jack had no real answer he just knew he wanted to kiss Ianto again.

As the leaned towards each other the door alarm sounded.  Ianto pulled back his expression professional but his eyes questioning Jack.

Jack drew his arms away and Ianto was gone leaving only the echo of his touch, his taste in Jack’s mouth and the promise in his eyes that this was a matter they would return to.

Toshiko looked startled by the huge grin on Jack’s face as he emerged from his office to follow the Welshman with his eyes.  She looked around for Ianto and just missed him disappearing into the vaults.

Jack settled down behind his desk replaying the kiss in his mind.  You could always tell it was going to be a good day when your early morning kiss promised that for good Captains, who did their paperwork, a hot Welshman was going to take them home at the end of the day and ravish them.

That reminded Jack, he had to re-check with Toshiko at the end of the day that tomorrow promised to be Rift activity free so that he could give the team the day off.  Jack loved days off after a night at Ianto’s house.  They meant early morning sex followed by sitting on the couch watching daytime TV.

It wasn’t just the fact that daytime TV was mind numbingly soothing.  It was the fact that watching allowed him to snuggle close to Ianto, a secret pastime only the Welshman knew the immortal loved to indulge in.

The door alarm sounded again signalling the arrival of Owen.  The noise reminded him that fantasising about Ianto wouldn’t get his work done so that those fantasies could come true.

Jack deliberately did not react to Owen’s arrival.  He did not go and check that everything was okay with the medic because in some ways it was never going to be.

He still felt the weight of guilt over the medic’s death and resurrection.  There were times when he hated his everlasting life and now he had inflicted everlasting death on a friend.

Yet since the night he went to Henry Parker’s house, since he proved he was still valuable to the team, the medic had found a sense of peace.  Now it was up to Jack to stop fussing and let Owen figure out his new afterlife by himself.

Coming in early seemed to be part of Owen’s new routine.  Jack knew the restlessness of being unable to sleep, though he didn’t think he could bear being without sex and food too.

No one ever got in earlier than Ianto, even on the days when he went back to his flat.  Owen had managed to beat Toshiko in once but after that he didn’t manage it again.

Jack couldn’t tell if that was professional pride or her trying to look out for her friend.  He decided to see how things settled before having a word about it.

Gwen arrived last of all.  Jack would have ignored her entrance too only she didn’t go to her station but straight to his office.

She was also talking on the phone her voice worried and urgent.

“No we’ll be there straight away...  Yes we will... No I understand that and you will be able to but... You understand... Thanks Andy... Yes that would be great...  See you soon.”

She hung up and without any hesitation she looked Jack in the eye and demanded to know.

“Where’s Ianto?”

 


	2. Chapter Two

The SUV raced along at a speed that usually indicated that Jack was driving.  None of the team complained though, they were all concerned about what Gwen’s ex-colleague had told them.

The policeman was easy to spot outside the ordinary looking house.  The SUV pulled up with enough speed to startle him.

PC Andy Davidson took one look at Ianto Jones stepping out of the driver seat of the Torchwood SUV and asked Gwen.

“Was it a good idea bringing him along?”

“He insisted,” She replied shortly.

“Okay then.”

“Look Andy you were being a bit vague on the phone but you said it was a matter of life and death.  What’s going on?” 

“For the last few days we have been getting anonymous tips that drugs have been sold from this house supported by reports from neighbours of suspicious behaviour.

“I was one of the officers assisting the drugs raid.  We found no evidence of drugs but as I told you what we did find, you need to see.

“Downstairs it looks like an ordinary home unless you take a good look at the DVDs, books and photos.  It’s upstairs that you can see most clearly what you need to worry about.

“I’ll wait here for you to finish,” Andy concluded in a tone that suggested not that he was making way for the mighty Torchwood, but more that what he had seen had disturbed him.

Ianto smoothly slipped past the others unnoticed and headed towards the house.  He wanted to see what PC Davidson was talking about for himself without them shielding him or speculating about what they’d found.  

“You said something about a prisoner,” he heard Gwen say and left them to discuss the person the police had arrested while he entered through the front door and into his living room.

Not quite his living room, the position of the door to the kitchen/dining room area meant that some things had been shifted slightly and the book case was bigger than his but the rest was almost an exact replication.

He wandered over to the DVD collection, the boxes all had his picture on them and they were labelled with times and locations he had been at.  The DVD’s inside were homemade.

Ianto was tempted to take one out and watch it but instead he put it back.  It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see it but he could guess what was on it and he had no idea how much longer PC Davidson would continue to stall the others.

Instead he turned away to look at the books, they were A5 Hardback books for writing notes in.  Selecting a book and page at random he began to read.

 

_...returned. I took great pleasure in saying I told you so to Fourth.  We watched Ianto and Captain Harkness exchange words then the Captain entered the warehouse with something from the boot of the SUV._

_Ianto moved the car back and waited.  Fourth had to look away as when the Captain returned they began to kiss and missed the explosion.  It was a pity Third was at a lecture, Third would have loved watching.  The SUV was in the way but I could tell..._

 

Ianto slammed the book shut and bile rose within him. 

He knew the moment the writer spoke of, a moment where Torchwood horrors and his own near death experience made Jack and him need to have each other then and there.  They had been at a desolate place and they had thought themselves alone.

The events that followed were tainted by bitterness and misunderstanding now that precious moment was too.

He picked out another book and looked inside just long enough to see that it was also an account of something he’d done.  It was in a different handwriting and Ianto knew for certain that all the books were about observing him.

Ianto felt confused.  Jack was in that other entry too so maybe the police were wrong, maybe it was about the immortal after all.

Then his eye caught the picture on the mantelpiece.  It was a perfectly ordinary picture frame containing a perfectly ordinary picture.

Except that the subject of the photo was Ianto Jones.

He could hear the others approaching and had to get out.  As he passed them he remembered PC Davidson’s words about it being more evident upstairs.

Ianto raced upstairs ignoring the words and looks of his colleagues.  He had an idea what was up there but he had to see for himself.

He headed straight to the master bedroom and entered a shrine to Ianto Jones.  He wasn’t so sure this time if the furniture was the same as his because everything was covered in photographs.

They were mostly taken from a distance, some weren’t even in focus but they were all him, most were of him by himself but there were also some with the team, some with Jack and some with Lisa.

Ianto Jones felt himself go cold as he looked at the pictures and realised that they spanned his years in Torchwood, not just in Cardiff but in London too.

He felt dizzy and sick but couldn’t stop himself from staring at the stolen moments from his life.


	3. Chapter Three

Jack could see the look of horror on Ianto’s face through the bedroom door.  He hated that look, hated being helpless to prevent it.  The fact that it wasn’t a Torchwood horror made it worse.

He approached quietly not sure if he should make some sort of noise so as not to startle the Welshman further but there was no need.

“Have you seen these?  That one is of me and Lisa having dinner for our first anniversary.

“I took her to this expensive restaurant in the west end that served really wonderful food.  Then we took a little walk when we got back and got completely soaked when it started to rain.  We stayed up talking and making love until dawn.

“This one’s of us on our first official date.  I think you had the strange notion that you should be a gentleman for our first date and leave me with a kiss at my door.  I invited you in for coffee for the sole purpose louring you into my bed so that I could let you know what a wonderful night I had.

“Oh look do you remember this one.  It’s from when I was on suspension and I poured Sangria over your head to make our waitress smile because you were being such a jerk to her.”

“Ianto.”

“That shouldn’t be me there.  I’m not the loud extrovert who turns heads.  I’m not the one everyone takes notice of.  I'm the quiet one who is never looked at and is easily forgotten.

“I know you’re going to say that I’m not ignored now but that’s by the team that doesn’t count.  It’s the rest of the world who isn’t meant to be aware of who I am and what I do.  With you and Gwen, even Owen or Tosh in the limelight no one is supposed to notice me.  So why are they watching me?”

“They?”

“I looked in a couple of their books, they watch me and write it down, they have different handwriting.

“Stalkers don’t come in groups, spies do.  They don’t feel like spies they feel like stalkers.  I just don’t understand.”

Ianto still hadn’t looked at him.  He was looking at the photos.  Jack knew he was searching there for answers, answers as to why this group had chosen him as their target.

“I would have.  I wasn’t sure what I would find then I returned from....  Well for all I knew you could have quit and retconned yourself.  If you had I would have tracked you down, I would have gotten to know the new you and pursued you until you fell for me,” Jack told him quietly

“You do realise how creepy that sounds,” the Welshman pointed out sounding more like his usual, common sense self.

“Yeah, that did sound better in my head.”

He hadn’t meant to put it quite that way it’s just that it always irritated him that Ianto didn’t find himself attractive, the effects of trauma, grief and loneliness when he first returned to Cardiff straight after Canary Wharf.

This inability to understand why they had chosen him was both professional and personal, it was also based on utterly false premises that Jack had been unable to change.

A new panicked thought rose within the immortal which made him blurt out.

“You do know that I watch you?  Not just when you’re in the room sometimes I turn on the CCTV and watch you working.  And sometimes I phone you up just to hear your voice, though sometimes it’s just to know you’re listening to me.  And sometimes when you decide to go home I follow you.  If it’s been a bad day I like to know you’re home and safe and sometimes I wonder if I knocked on your door whether or not you’d let me in.  And...” A gentle hand on his cheek halted his blabbering. 

He looked up into those serious blue eyes and felt relieved that they were touched by affection that extended to a slight smile.

“I wonder Jack how many people have ever gotten to know you.  How many people just see Captain Jack Harkness, hero, Time Agent, Torchwood Leader. 

“How many people see a man who will do whatever it takes to protect the Earth?  How many people see beyond the extrovert personality?  Beyond knowing that they are looking at a man who can and will _do_ anyone with one possible exception?

“How many people have ever seen more of you than can be seen of me in those photographs?  How many people can look at them and know accurately what I was thinking?

“It is the nature of our relationship that lets us know each other.  I know the cost protecting the Earth has for you.  I know that your interest to me is mostly because of our relationship, but also because you have the misfortune to be a lonely old man who finds having someone young and who’s attracted to him reassuring to have about the place,” Ianto concluded, his passion fading to reassurance.

“Hey less of the old,” Jack protested feeling glad that it elicited a brief smile.

“You don’t watch or listen or follow me because you’re a sexual predator, well not unless I want you to be.  And you know if you had ever knocked on my door I would have let you in.”

Jack smiled at that.  He knew he would always be welcome, it was both reassuring and a little frightening.

“You know me Jack, they don’t.  They watch and write it down and if they are the stalkers they feel like they can speculate, speculate about my thoughts and feelings, about Torchwood, about us.

“I...”

The sounds of footsteps behind him halted Ianto.  Jack turned to see Gwen deliberately being noisy as she climbed to give them enough warning of her approach.

Jack knew she wouldn’t have interrupted unless it was important.  He appreciated her tact and the look of concern on her face.

“We’ve found something you need to see.”

Ianto pushed past him and Gwen and returned to the lounge.  Jack noticed his eyes flicker to the bookcase and the slight relief that none of the spy journals had been disturbed.

“We found this,” Owen said in his most professional voice.

He pressed the play button on the remote and the TV sprang to life.  Music filled the air and on the screen masked figures moved around a man in a suit.

The camera angle changed to reveal Ianto’s face.  His eyes stared blankly as one of the masked people removed his jacket and began to unbutton his shirt.

“I was flickering through the DVD collection when I noticed this one, it’s called ‘The Confirmation Ceremony’ and it’s dated from the time of your kidnapping.  The people whose house this is, they’re responsible,” Owen said solemnly staring at the screen.

The medic glanced back towards the Welshman and did a double take.

“Ianto!”

The young man turned towards the door.  Jack could see a blank look in the Welshman’s eyes and moved to intercept him.

Ianto raised his hand to the immortal’s face.  His fingers moved in a pattern it took the gasps of the others for him to realise that he could feel a wetness.

“Turn it off,” he ordered.

As soon as the screen was blank the Welshman stopped.  He blinked and looked at Jack’s face.

It took only a second for Ianto’s expression to change from one of surprise to one that meant trouble.


	4. Chapter Four

Ianto looked at the red marks on Jack’s face, felt the tingle of pain in his fingers and knew they were made with his blood. 

He didn’t know how it happened, one second he saw Owen press play then next he was looking at Jack’s bloody face.  He had lost control, become lost and not of his doing.

In the moment he realised this, Ianto Jones became incredibly angry.

He stormed away from the others ignoring the sound of his name being called.  He headed straight for the boot of the SUV to get the equipment he needed.

“Are you alright mate?” PC Davidson asked with concern.  

Andy had seen what was in that house, knew what he had just faced.  Ianto could see that it was the level of obsession on display that had upset the police officer earlier. 

Ianto could also see that it was his duty to protect that had brought PC Davidson over, as much as concern for his wellbeing.  Part of him felt grateful but it was squashed by wrath.

“Right now I’m feeling very angry but thank you for your concern,” Ianto told him as he slammed the boot down.

Ianto gave Andy a brief but dangerous smile, looked up and down the street to orientate himself and set off.  He wasn’t going to just wait for whoever was following him to be found, he was going to find them and he knew just were to bait his trap.

The Welshman arrived at the park quicker than he thought, anger adding speed to his stride.  He laid the blanket he was carrying down and sat on it as he set up his equipment to scan for traces of surveillance.

Ianto was totally unsurprised when Jack sat down next to him a few seconds later.

“You know it would be a better strategy for me to wait alone and for you to keep an eye out for whoever’s watching me from a distance.”

“You think I’m going to let you get more than two feet away from me for any reason, other than if you are going to the bathroom in the Hub, then you are very much mistaken.  Even then I’m going to be waiting right outside the door.”

“I’m not afraid of them.”

“I am,” Jack replied quietly and Ianto looked at him, saw fear mixed with the concern and worry etched on his face.

“You think I’m being foolish,” the anger deflating.

“I think you’re magnificent.  If that had been me on display the only reason I wouldn’t be cowering in the Hub right now is that immortality makes such things lose their sting,” Jack replied and Ianto looked at him.

“I was quite the coward before I met the Doctor.  He made me the hero everyone sees before I became immortal.

“But it’s you on display and that makes it different, that makes it terrifying.  Part of me wants to knock you out and carry you back to the Hub while another part of me wants to take advantage of your reckless mood.”

“Take advantage how?”

“Like this.”

Jack was on him in a second, lips seeking entry, body pushing him back into the blanket.  On any other day he would have protested but not today, today he didn’t care.

Seeing so many pictures of himself made him feel like his carefully constructed barriers were just cling film.  That anyone could see through and tear down his walls and know.

Right then nothing mattered except that Jack was removing the rest of the universe.  There was just his lips, his smell and his body which pressed something hard into him that was definitely not a Webley.

So it surprised Ianto when Jack pulled away, pulled him up and sat a little distance away.  His hurt must have been so naked for the immortal said.

“I don’t want you to regret anything about me and you aren’t a condemned man.”

Ianto turned away feeling his cheeks redden with embarrassment.

Jack was right, there were only two circumstances under which he would allow such a public display of affection.  One was the shadow of death and the immortal wasn’t ready for the other.

The Welshman scanned the crowd, looking for who had seen, looking for who was watching.

“That’s my Ianto,” Jack chuckled and he looked at the Captain sharply.

For a moment he wondered if the immortal knew what the second circumstance was.  Wondered if that was why he had never pushed for a more public relationship than the one they had.

Ianto turned away again, both from the thought and the pain to could bring.  He needed a change of topic and dove for the most obvious one.

“So what’s happening with the stuff from the house?”

“The others are boxing it up and taking it and the prisoner, the suspect the police apprehended, back to the Hub.  They’re going to drop Gwen at Rhys’ office first and then put all the evidence in a room to be sorted.

“Why is Gwen going to see Rhys?”

“Because I’m going to Retcon her,” Jack said cheerfully. 

He was waiting for Ianto to look at him because he grinned then turned all serious.

“I listened to what you said and to Toshiko,” he added tapping his ear subconsciously indicating that the whole conversation had taken place over the comms.

“She also had a look in those books while we were upstairs and realised what they were and stopped the others from reading them.  I pointed out that we had to look at them to get some clue about the people who have been following you.

“I was worried about what you said about them speculating and I knew you wouldn’t want Owen to read them so I asked Tosh to do it.  Only she thought the same thing but it also reminded her of when she was wearing the pendant.

“Tosh said that knowing someone’s thoughts, like when you read a diary doesn’t just change your opinion of the person whose thoughts you are seeing.  She said people think about other people and their opinions about others can change your own, even if those opinions are lies, so she refused.

“Owen suggested that we Retcon whoever read the journals and watched the DVD’s but Tosh still didn’t want to do it so Gwen volunteered.  I sent her to Rhys so that if we time the Retcon dose right she’ll remember why she doesn’t remember.

“Gwen’s also more grounded than the rest of us.  I have the feeling that she’s going to need a reminder of what Rhys gives her to give her strength to read those books,” Jack added darkly and Ianto nodded in agreement.

“So are you ready to come back now?”

“Jack I know full well that as soon as I enter the Hub I’m not going to be allowed to leave until you have my watchers safely under lock and key.  Please let’s just sit in the sunshine a little longer.”

He didn’t look to see if Jack agreed.  They both knew that Gwen wasn’t the only one who needed a reminder of real humanity to get through this.

Ianto was given barely a minute before his phone beeped.  Automatically he took it out of his pocket and checked the message.

It was a video file.  He pressed play to watch him and Jack kissing just now.

Ianto dropped the phone and didn’t read the accompanying message.  ‘I’m glad that you’re happy Ianto.  I’m just sorry that it will not be allowed to last.’

He stood scanning the park, trying to see who had filmed him.  He was unaware of what Jack was saying something over his comms.

It was a measure of how disturbed he was that Ianto made no protest as Jack put his arm around him.  His lover led him to where the SUV was waiting to take them back to the Hub.

 

 


	5. Chapter Five

Toshiko watched with concern as Jack led Ianto from the garage to the sofa in the main Hub.  The Welshman seemed to want to interrogate the prisoner but the Captain was firm that he shouldn’t go anywhere near her.

Gwen had returned before them and headed straight for the room where all the books, DVD’s and photos were.  As Owen entered behind Jack and Ianto, he complained about having to take the scenic route.

There was no real anger in the complaint; it was just to make Ianto feel more normal.  Tosh could see the concern in the medic’s eyes as he swiftly went to check on their prisoner and the Welshman moved to join him.

Jack forced Ianto to stay right where he was and the longer he sat, the more the Captain stopped him from moving, the more frightened and nervous the Welshman looked.

To be honest she couldn’t blame him.  One of the things Toshiko and Ianto had in common was their love of privacy, the Welshman’s had been violated.

She was determined to find out who these people were.  She had failed him last year when they had been unable to track down his kidnappers, she would not fail again now.

Of course this time they had a painfully large collection of clues to help them.  Tosh had only properly looked at the photographs but it was obvious that the people who had taken Ianto were still watching him.

There were too many where Ianto’s face was a blank mask or obviously unhappy.  It made her feel guilty to know that these people had seen the Welshman’s pain after Canary Wharf, Lisa’s death and Jack’s leaving when too often the rest of them had not.

She didn’t envy Gwen the task of watching the videos and reading the diaries.  What little she’d read made her feel so uncomfortable, they were a strangers observations yet they were intimate.

Toshiko could still remember how alienated wearing the pendant had made her feel.  She wondered if knowing he was important to these people when he seemed so unimportant sometimes to his friends was making Ianto feel the same way.

Ianto Jones wasn’t unimportant to her though.  She might sometimes be so focused that she didn’t seem like the best of friends to have but Tosh liked to think that she was always there when he had needed her.

He needed her now.  He needed her to solve this.  He needed her to let him know that none of this mattered to her, to their friendship.

Toshiko set the computers to continue their work, processing the police evidence from the house, without her and headed to the kitchen area.  She didn’t dare touch the coffee machine but she was very good with a kettle and a tea bag.

She placed the tea in Ianto’s hands and startled him.

“Thanks Tosh I should...”

“You should let us take care of you.  You’re too close to this,” She said gently pushing him back into the sofa.

“I’m not going to be much good to you am I.  I’ve compromised security.  They’re still following me.  Did you notice them following me?” Ianto asked turning to Jack who was sat on the Welshman’s other side.

“No I didn’t notice anything.”  The way he didn’t quite look at the Welshman, the way Ianto didn’t press, told Tosh exactly what Jack had been concentrating on as he followed the young man from that house.

“Maybe they’ve got some sort of tracker on me?” Ianto asked turning now to Toshiko.

She motioned him to stay then headed to her workstation.  He stood as Tosh waved the scanner she collected over him, it only beeped when it neared Ianto’s watch.

“I’ll change the frequency,” Tosh said removing the watch from his wrist.

“Thanks,” he replied and she squashed the sigh of relief.

Shortly after the incident with the cannibals Ianto had asked Toshiko if she could repair his broken watch.  The technical genius did and added a tracking device so that she would have a way of finding him if anything happened to him.

After the incident with Mary, Tosh became aware that most of her favourite jewellery had tracking devices in them to.  Rather than making her feel offended or that her privacy was being violated it made her feel safe.

The feeling was mutual.  They both knew the other would only use the tracker if their life was in danger.  They both knew if they really wanted privacy they could just take the watch or jewellery off.

When Toshiko turned back it was to see Jack talking to Ianto in a low voice.  She hesitated, feeling the intimacy between them despite the fact they were barely touching.

“This doesn’t feel right,” Ianto suddenly said aloud shattering the moment.

“In what way doesn’t it feel right?  I mean I know I’ve never fancied you but you are a good looking bloke.  Out of Captain America’s shadow there are those who would find you attractive, those who go for the quiet type,” Owen said approaching.

“I might be able to accept that one person wanted to stalk me but ...”

“How many people were on that tape?” Jack asked when he realised Ianto didn’t know how many people were watching him.

“Five, four getting all touchy feely and one holding the camera,” Owen replied accepting that they were right.

“Even for me simultaneous five stalkers is excessive.  Besides in my experience stalkers tend to kill off competition not work in concert,” Jack stated.

“It isn’t just the numbers.  Those photos suggest that they’ve been following me since I worked for Torchwood One.

“In my experience whenever anyone thinks of Torchwood One it is either with sorrow over the tragedy of the battle, or anger over what had happened.  Or greed, someone wanting something well I don’t have anything.”

“Yeah setting aside the fact that if you did have anything from Torchwood One it would be between your ears, you’re right.  When you were taken they painted you with symbols of love and wellbeing, not what I’d associate with Torchwood,” Owen stated.

“Maybe they’re a cult who are worshiping you for some arcane knowledge you possess,” Tosh suggested with a smile.

“You could be right Tosh.”

“What?  I was joking.”

“Look if they don’t want Ianto for his gorgeous body then it must be for his brilliant memory.  Why don’t the two of you go over every case you worked on for Torchwood One that involved a cult then move on to obscure artefacts you’ve handled with cult associations,” Jack ordered.

Toshiko wanted to protest again but Ianto nodded.  She realised that Jack knew how much of a long shot it was but knew the work would keep the Welshman distracted.

A few hours later, it still seemed to Tosh like they had barely begun, when an alert sounded.

“Someone’s at the Tourist Office door,” Ianto told her in a voice filled with omen.

 

 


	6. Chapter Six

By the time the knock came on the door Gwen Cooper was torn between her need for a break and her desire never to see any of her colleagues again without a good dose of Retcon.

She had chosen to ignore the DVDs and photographs for now and instead focus on the journals that Tosh had helpfully grouped by handwriting.  Even so the smallest pile was seven books and the largest thirty-two.

There was no way she could read through all the books quickly.  So she had decided that, unless something caught her attention, she would read the beginning, the end and some random pages from the middle of each book in order to roughly sketch the character and intentions of the people writing them.

The last book in smallest pile finished at the end of one of the books, several months before the battle of Canary Wharf.  Gwen quickly realised that the writer worked for Torchwood One. She expected that it wasn’t the last book this person wrote but that both it and the author had perished in the battle.

The next shortest pile ended about a week before the battle, half way through the pages and was sprayed with blood.  The next shortest after that had a similar abrupt ending finishing in the middle of the battle itself.

She had noticed that on the inside cover of each of the first set of books was written a ‘5th’.  Inside the second pile was a neat little ‘4th’ and the third pile a ‘2nd’.

Gwen decided that she was getting nowhere so decided to tackle the biggest pile which was also labelled with a ‘4th’.  She could tell from the beginning that the writer was also from Torchwood One.

Like the others, this Fourth had felt a calling towards guarding a great secret but that it was a decade before Ianto even joined Torchwood.  Gwen soon realised that it was an artefact that he was called to guard not a person.

Twelve journals later he was retiring and decided to choose a Vessel for the secret, a person to house it.  Gwen got excited realising she might finally be getting answers as to why Ianto was being followed.

She was therefore very disappointed that the chosen Vessel obviously wasn’t Ianto.  While Fourth never named him, his status, attitude and position as a scientist within Torchwood One meant that it was definitely not her friend.

Knowing that there had to be a reason for these journals to be included with the rest of the stalkers writings she persevered reading the beginnings and ends of each book.

Gwen found one that started with the writer watching his chosen vessel and ended with him watching Ianto in Cardiff.  The significance made her groan as she went back to the beginning to skim through the dull prose in dreadful handwriting.

The handwriting got worse as the writer realised he had chosen the wrong vessel.  She wasn’t sure what had happened but his despair verged on the suicidal.

Then he was approached by one of the others.  He realised Ianto’s existence and was invited into their group and became one of them.

This group of watchers obviously knew about Lisa’s fate.  They seemed torn between hope and worry over her and although Fourth thoroughly disapproved, he agreed that it would not be good for Ianto to lose the hope he had left so soon after the battle.

The writer only approved of Ianto’s joining Torchwood because of Lisa, not the hope of her restoration but the hope that Torchwood Three would deal with the problem if it arose.

He had been behind the decision to have Ianto kidnapped.  Fourth didn’t think Ianto should stay with Torchwood Three after the Cyberman’s destruction.  The delay was caused by his trying to persuade the others he was right.

They had let him go because that seemed to be what was best of Ianto.  The Welshman was also right in that the incident had been a test to see if Torchwood were the right people to look after him.

These followers certainly knew of Jack and Ianto’s relationship before the rest of them.  Gwen couldn’t tell if the writer disapproved of the relationship because it was with Jack or just because it was a gay one.

The others it seemed overruled him.  They were terribly concerned when Jack left but they felt relieved that there was another guardian watching over Ianto, later the writer identified that person as Tosh.

Gwen noticed that after Jack’s return Fourth became less disapproving as Ianto seemed happier.  He also ended his journal with a warning.

_The ones we fear are coming.  We must protect him._

Cryptic and, to Gwen, both unhelpful and frightening, she suddenly had the suspicion that all this evidence had been deliberately left for them to find but why?

The next set of journals Gwen tackled belonged to ‘1st’. She was the one who organised the group, the one who named her fellow writers Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth.  It was also evident that she had at some time met Ianto before her call.

First wrote as though she was discussing a friend rather than a virtual stranger.  She liked Lisa and could see the dangers of separating Ianto from her cyber converted remains without something new to anchor him.

Gwen had to stop reading First’s journals after her writing had turned erotic and made the ex-PC feel intimately uncomfortable.

It wasn’t just how turned on the words made her feel it was that she’d never thought of Ianto that way.  There was also the jealousy, jealousy that it was Jack the Welshman was with that burned within her.

Then guilt washed over her as she faced the fact that those feelings were a betrayal of her feelings for Rhys.  She hated that it was so easy for her to emotionally stray when she knew the idea of her and Jack was just as much a fantasy as First’s writing.

She set those journals aside half hoping that she wouldn’t have to go back to them.  Instead she picked up those of a ‘3rd’.

Another mysterious call, being drawn towards Ianto and finding First and the others.  This one was a city worker, hard working and dedicated by day, stalker by evening and no real connection to Torchwood that she could see.

Third was the last of the group to go to Cardiff after the battle.  Partly because he was waiting for his transfer and partly to make sure no one followed Ianto.

Third had no desire to remain a businessman, he hoped to do something else with his life but he knew they needed money and was working hard to ensure the group was looked after.

His style was easy to read and Gwen found herself caught up in his writing.  She could also tell that Third was ill and felt tears prickle her eyes when he wrote that he had terminal cancer.

By then though he had E.

Gwen was discovering that she was seriously underestimating Ianto’s desirability.  There had not only been people angry at what happened at Canary Wharf after him but people who wanted what he knew, most of whom the Welshman’s stalkers had taken care of.

E thought was different.  When Third met E the boy was half in love with Ianto, a genuine stalker. 

E had known Ianto since childhood but recently the Welshman had saved the boy physically and emotionally; though apparently he couldn’t remember doing so in what Gwen suspected was a Torchwood related way.

Ianto had apparently even helped and encouraged E to remain at University.  However the boy felt protectiveness as well as love for his saviour and began to watch for him at night instead of studying, which was when he met Third.

After a few nights the two of them began to watch Ianto together, sharing what would otherwise have been lonely vigils.  Gradually they had gotten to know each other and feelings that had nothing to do with watching the Vessel developed between them.

It was E that persuaded Third to finally see a doctor but it was too late by then.  E had gone with him for support and given him the comfort he needed afterward.

They missed Suzie’s suicide that night because they were consummating their relationship physically.  Knowing he was loved by E and had a successor for his duty gave Third the strength to continue.

Gwen was openly weeping as she read another hand describe Third’s death, shortly after Jack ran off with the Doctor.  She felt guilty for feeling such sympathy and loss for someone who was stalking her friend, but Third’s story had been the only glimmer of light in the volumes about Ianto’s life in Cardiff.

It was all there in these volumes the terrible truth of Ianto’s first year at Torchwood Three.  Written in the concern, the notations of his long hours, how thin he was becoming and the momentary glimpses of loneliness and despair normally so carefully hidden behind Ianto’s mask.

Tosh was the only one First, Third and Fourth had anything good to say about from the beginning.  Even First wasn’t sure about Jack until it was obvious to her that Ianto was attracted to him.

Gwen knew she was guilty of not really making an effort to get to know Ianto, knew she let her desires and jealousies over Jack sometimes drive a wedge between them but what they wrote about her made her feel sick because she couldn’t shake the notion that there might be a ring of truth in their accusations.

She was glad she was the only one reading these journals, glad she would be retconned afterwards.  Gwen hated the way they made her feel about Owen, Jack and herself; hated the guilt she felt knowing how blind she was to her friend’s suffering.

Which was why by the time the knock came, she was staring at the remaining books dreading what she would find within them and hating the thought of seeing the others.

“Come in.  I’m not finished yet,” Gwen called not turning around as whoever knocked entered because she didn’t think she could look at any of her friends again.

“I know but I thought you could do with a take away from Chez Rhys.”

“Rhys.”

Her fiancé was the last person she expected to see and the only one right then capable of making her feel good.  Bizarrely Rhys had the approval of by First, Third and Fourth which strangely made him more perfect to her.

Gwen jumped up from the table and grabbed him into a big hug.  Rhys held her gently as she shook a little, unable to settle the conflicting emotions she felt, and ran a hand soothingly down her back.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“Well after what you told me I didn’t really feel like going out and I didn’t feel like staying in by myself; so I figured that you lot probably weren’t up to looking after yourselves without Ianto and not likely to want to order a takeaway from strangers so I cooked.

“I have a vegetable stew, wasn’t sure if you had any vegetarians, also cold roast chicken, bread and butter, cheese, apples, fruit juice, wine and Ianto made some of that excellent coffee.  It’s in the conference room.”

“Rhys I don’t really feel...” she began about to brush him off despite the growl of protest from her stomach.

“Yeah Ianto didn’t think you’d want to join them so I come baring enough for the two of us,” he replied with a sad smile and ducked out to come back with a tray full of food.

“How come it’s still warm?”

“Camp stove,” her fiancé replied with a please smile.

Gwen looked at him and knew that she was the luckiest woman alive.  There would not be many men who would be so understanding about what she did and she was glad there were no more secrets from him anymore.

“Hey my stew’s salted to perfection it doesn’t need anymore,” Rhys said softly brushing away the tears she didn’t realise were falling down her cheeks.

“I’m sorry it’s just...”

“I know.  Ianto told me to remind you that they aren’t real.  They are the opinions of observers, they know nothing of the hearts they can’t see.”

Rhys held her as she wept a little more.  She felt his gentle strength filling her, reminding her that First’s writing was all a fantasy, here was something real, here holding her was love.

They ate and Rhys talked about his day.  She let all the little things he said fill her with their reality, let him give her the courage to choose the next volume.

She was going to find out what these people wanted with Ianto.  She was not going to let their twisted care of her friend stop her from protecting him too.

This wonderful reminder that she had Rhys to go home to though, right now it made all the difference to her heart.

 


	7. Chapter Seven

Jack was trying his best not to hold Ianto tighter.  He was trying not to stroke the Welshman’s skin or make one of a hundred reassuring moves that would disturb his sleep.

Rhys’ unexpected gesture of kindness was been appreciated by every member of the team, even Owen who was no longer capable of ingesting the food appreciated it.

The fact that he’d thought of them, chosen to do something for them despite the reservations he had and the problems Torchwood had caused.  The gesture meant nothing to Rhys, just simple humanity, but Jack could see every single one of his team accepting Gwen’s demand that her fiancé keep his memory as the right decision.

The smile Rhys’ appearance with food brought to Ianto’s face elevated him from a good man for Gwen to the perfect man for Gwen.  The only downer over supper was the Archivist’s prediction that the Ex-PC wouldn’t want to join them came true.

Over their meal they chatted about the most trivial things, anything to let them use Rhys’ gift to forget their problems for a short while.  Jack was soon telling outrageous stories but the laughter they brought had a touch of hysteria.

Afterwards of course Ianto washed up then returned to Tosh to continue looking into his past.  Unfortunately it seemed that the Welshman spent a lot of time researching cults as well as classifying and housing exotic artefacts for Torchwood One.

It kept him occupied enough to let Jack and Owen have time to sneak off and interrogate the prisoner.  Not that that was a success.

She didn’t say anything.  It wasn’t a sulky reluctant silence of a frequent visitor to her majesties’ police stations who knew saying nothing was for the best; it was the silence of someone who had accepted their fate and whatever was to come.

Not even telling her that her plans had been foiled, that Ianto would be staying in the Hub until her friends were caught, helped.  In fact that news added an air of smugness to her.

Jack emerged from interrogation to find that Rhys had stayed and was waiting for Gwen to finish for the night.  When the Ex-PC did emerge she didn’t look at any of them she just wrapped herself around her fiancé and headed out the door.

The immortal took that as the cue to send Toshiko and Owen home.  While the latter didn’t need sleep anymore, Ianto did and he was unlikely to want get some with the medic still in the Hub.

There had been an urgency in their love making that night.  It didn’t make their couplings hard and fast but slow and sensual to remind both of them they were still alive and how they felt, the fear as well as love.

It took four orgasms for Ianto release his hold on wakefulness and let himself be taken by sleep.  Jack could see him fighting every flutter of his eyelashes and whispered promises of protection and safety in his ears to encourage him to relax.

That didn’t stop the nightmares of course.  Ianto tossed and turned and shouted but Jack held him, stroked him, spoke soothing reassurances until he calmed again.

Only now in the stillness did Jack’s own fears grip him.

He wasn’t ready.

He wasn’t ready to lose Ianto.  He wasn’t ready for the emotions this case was stirring within him.  He wasn’t ready.

Since the breakdown of his marriage, his estrangement from his wife and daughter, Jack had done his best to avoid such deep emotional attachments.

It wasn’t just the pain they caused, it what the pain it made him cause.

He wasn’t like Ianto for whom loss caused emotional detachment.  The Welshman couldn’t live with his pain so he lived without emotion until he recovered enough to cope.

Jack couldn’t switch off his feelings.  The closest he ever came was cutting off all the good feelings and letting a cold hate infuse him.  When he was hurt and angry he tended to spread it around unless someone stopped him.

That was how Ianto had come into his life.  After a hundred years of waiting, of hurts and disappointments and grief, he was cold and unfeeling and couldn’t care less about someone who worked for the people that had killed Rose.

Ianto however had a pterodactyl, a bar of dark chocolate and a secret that wouldn’t let him quit.

Jack had seen as Ianto approached the pterodactyl that the Welshman was nervous, frightened but he did it anyway.  The bravery wasn’t just his trying to impress his future boss but a sense of duty.

It was one of the things Jack would come to admire about Ianto.  Even when he was emotionally cut off, his default was to act with care and compassion, with bravery and duty even at the expense of himself.

Ianto hadn’t made any effort in sneaking his way into Jack’s affections. 

Sure he was flirtatious at first but one unguarded moment had reminded the Captain that he was dealing with a survivor who was still recovering, one whose feelings it was too easy to abuse.

Then there was the discovery of the Cyberwoman in the basement.  Jack became his angry bundle of hate but it only lasted long enough to encounter Ianto’s unemotional thoughtfulness.  His hate shattered as he realised that, even without pushing for sex, he’d abused the Welshman anyway.

While the Welshman was on suspension Jack had made an effort to put things right.  Made a mess of it of course but once they realised their misunderstandings they could move on to establish a new working relationship.

Jack’s fondness for Ianto was truly rekindled though by his understanding over Jasmine.  His subsequent kidnapping made the Captain determined that the Welshman wasn’t going to survive Canary Wharf and his wrath only to be taken so easily.

It was his fault that they never pursued the kidnapping.  Ianto’s feelings of imprisonment within the Hub afterwards had lead to him being taken to the beacons for some team bonding.

For the third time in two months Jack had nearly lost Ianto.  Yet he had succeeded in bringing the two of them and Toshiko closer together.

Jack’s feelings strengthened as their physical relationship began.  Pretending it was just a ‘friends with benefits’ kind of relationship just deceived both of them.

It had taken a year with the Master to realise that their relationship was a lot deeper than that of friends.  A year of pain to realise that sex was never the true benefit, only the distraction.

He had meant what he had said in that house, in the photograph room.  He would have done anything, even break up any new relationship Ianto might have had, to get the Welshman back.

It might have surprised some people who knew him that he hadn’t done it to restart their physical relationship.  Sex wasn’t a bonus, it was Jack’s way to communicate what he tongue was incapable of saying.

He was fortunate that Ianto could read sex.  There were only a few times when Jack needed words to speak to the Welshman and even then when his tongue failed, his wonderful Ianto understood.

No one had ever been able to do that before.  Not just that, no one have ever been able to accept him before, outrageous flirt, immortal, a dash of dangerous darkness and all, not until Ianto.

After Owen, Ianto had told him that he couldn’t use a resurrection glove or anything similar to bring the Welshman back.  Jack was half afraid that he would break the laws of time if he had to, to keep him.

He wasn’t going to let this bunch of creeps put him in the Doctor’s bad books any time soon.  He wasn’t going to let a single hair on the body beside him get damaged.

Jack’s melancholy was disturbed all too soon by Ianto waking. 

He made love to the Welshman with renewed urgency yet in the movement of their bodies Ianto reassured him that everything would be alright.  Jack felt himself being calmed and held as though he was the one in danger.

Only when Ianto felt Jack was ready did he get up.  He made no objections to them showering together only added to the reassurance.

Jack emerged, following his lover who walked with renewed confidence.  Whatever nightmares he had suffered Ianto had also dreamed up a new plan of action.


	8. Chapter Eight

“Hi Tosh.”

Toshiko Sato came in to find Ianto at her work station scanning in some of the photographs they had collected from the house.

“What’s happening?” she asked noticing Jack take a few photos from this discarded pile and slip them into his pocket while she distracted the Welshman’s attention.

“It occurred to me this morning that we’re approaching this from the wrong angle.  We’ve been focusing on the what and the who and forgetting the how.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Well all these pictures they had to be taken from somewhere, if we can figure out where then maybe we can see if my followers left some clues. 

“We have the most sophisticated plans of the city in the mainframe and I and fairly sure I can figure out the locations and perhaps the dates of each of these pictures.  That should be enough to find out where they were taken from right?”

“Right,” she confirmed and went over to join him.

“You continue scanning in these pictures and putting in the date and location information.  I’ll work on a program to figure out the angles they came from.

“Try and work on what you think are the most recent ones first.  If we’re lucky we may even be able to pick them up on CCTV.”

Ianto nodded and got back to work looking for more recent photographs.  Tosh began to set up the program when Owen entered.

They explained to the medic what they were doing and he told them that once Tosh found any CCTV footage he’d look through it.  He set himself up at Gwen’s workstation and Jack hovered between them.

With the CCTV Toshiko also sent Owen the results of the police’s forensic investigation on the house and the warehouse where they had found the kidnapped Ianto.  She hoped the medic understood her reasons for sending it and she received a nod to say that he did.

Toshiko did her best not to sigh with relief.

Since Owen died and came back she felt very awkward around him.  Her declaration of love felt very much like an elephant in the room that they were both ignoring.  It was more of an issue than his demise.

Toshiko hadn’t known how to treat Owen.  None of them did apart from Ianto who, while sympathetic and gentle, was also firm in dealing with his depression. 

The Welshman just tried his best to treat him as normal, tried to make all of them, including the medic, remember that he was still the same Owen.

After the incident the Henry Parker a change had come over Owen.  Toshiko wasn’t quite sure what that meant yet but she could tell things would get better.

She was glad she could keep Ianto distracted with this new idea while Owen took over the investigation into who these people were.  Jack had been very strict about keeping the Welshman as far away from them as possible and they all agreed that was for the best.

With the CCTV footage and forensic evidence Owen also had an e-mail that Gwen had sent from home outlining her finding from the journals so far that she’d.  Toshiko hadn’t been able to read it with Ianto right next to her but she knew the Medic had.

When Gwen entered the hub she ignored all of them and headed straight for the room with the journals.  Tosh felt a stab of hurt but Ianto rested a hand on hers, they looked at each other and both understood.

Whatever the journals contained they were making Gwen feel uncomfortable around them.  Toshiko knew the power of other people’s frank opinions, opinions they thought no one else would ever know.

Tosh didn’t doubt that the journals were also raking up the loneliness, isolation and extremely long hours Ianto had suffered as he hid from them to keep his secret.  It was something they were all guilty of and she couldn’t deny it.

The Welshman gently squeezed her hand shaking her out of the deep guilt she felt.  She didn’t dare look at him until he squeezed her hand again and saw the forgiveness in his eyes.

This was what made Ianto invaluable.  Not the coffee or the instant information or his well timed wit.  It was his way of knowing whatever it was that was bothering you and knowing how to make it better, even if you didn’t realise he was doing it.

She gave him a nod of thanks and turned back to their work.  Tosh was going to find these people who were disrupting the team, who were trying to claim Ianto as theirs.

However the further their work progressed the heavier the atmosphere felt.  Jack was prowling anxiously, staring intently at their work and making comments that made the atmosphere increasingly oppressive.

Not even coffee and lunch, which Owen grumpily had to go out and get, helped.  Jack’s anger and worry flowed over them making them all feel nervous as they tried to hurry.

“Where are you going?” Jack demanded as Ianto got up and headed towards the lower levels.

“I thought I would go and interrogate the prisoner.”

“You are going nowhere near her.”

“You didn’t have much success with her yesterday maybe if it’s me we’ll have better luck.”

“You are doing no such thing,” Jack shouted as he pushed Ianto back into the chair next to Toshiko.

Jack grabbed some handcuffs and used them to secure the Welshman to Tosh’s workstation.  Ianto gave him a glare that threatened terrible things but the immortal didn’t care.

Instead he picked up one of the photos from the discarded pile of scanned pictures.  It was a nice one with both of them in it smiling for once.  Jack put the picture defiantly in his top pocket and giving Ianto a glare headed down towards interrogation.

Toshiko was still holding her breath as he left and Owen was still waiting for Ianto to explode.  They weren’t expecting him to calmly extract a bunch of keys from his pocket and release himself.

“Well that’s got him out of our hair for a while,” Ianto said calmly turning back his work.

Toshiko and Owen exchanged surprised looks and then both laughed.  It was full of relief and tinged with hysteria but Ianto smiled slightly smugly telling them this was the reaction he had wanted.

For a moment she wanted to hug him.  Not just in thanks but to reassure herself that it would be alright.

Tosh couldn’t though, not at work with Owen watching, not with Ianto feeling on edge because he was under scrutiny.  No, now wasn’t the time for hugs, now was the time for ensuring she could get one later.

With renewed determination Toshiko Sato set about saving her friend.

 

 


	9. Chapter Nine

Doctor Owen Harper had had a similar idea to Ianto Jones the previous night.  When he emerged from the Tourist Office he looked around for places for observers to hide.

He couldn’t see anywhere obvious but he supposed that was the point.  He then walked to the Plass and looked around there and met with the same problem.

The problem was that Owen hadn’t actually seen any of the photos of Ianto for longer than a quick glance.  He resolved to ask about it in the morning, there was no way he was going back in the Hub while Jack was giving the Welshman comfort.

Despite knowing it was probably fruitless Owen couldn’t just go home.

He and Ianto may not always get on but he’d developed quite a soft spot for the quiet Welshman.  He had been through so much and still cared deeply about others.  It was a trait Owen envied and at the same time felt glad he no longer possessed.

The next obvious fruitless place to search was the area around Ianto’s flat.  The medic found nothing so he checked Ianto’s door to make sure there were no signs of someone trying to get in.

There was nothings and of course Ianto hadn’t lived at the flat for long.  He had only moved there during Jack’s absence, it was his way of letting go of the last of his grief for Lisa and any reminders of his doomed relationship with the immortal he never expected to see again.

There was a couple of women living in the Welshman’s old house when Owen arrived.  The fact that he could tell so easily meant that this location had been perfect for anyone spying on Ianto.

 _Including Jack_ , Owen thought as he spotted a little CCTV camera discreetly placed to observe the comings and goings of the house.  He would have to ask the Captain if they could go through his private collection.

Owen didn’t know Ianto well enough to know of any other places that the Welshman would hang out around.  The Medic had a suspicion that the only time his friend went out without Jack was when he was out with Tosh for a friendly get together, or with the team for one of the ‘fun’ evenings out Gwen organised.

He did however remember the Hall where Ianto had been taken to when he was kidnapped.  Owen knew the police had gone over the place looking for forensic evidence but he had nothing better to do and re-looking couldn’t hurt.

The door to the Hall had been crudely repaired.  Not enough to actually secure the place but enough so that it was no longer letting in the wind.

Cautiously Owen entered.  He no longer had a sense of smell but it was obvious someone was living here, someone who had made themselves scarce when he arrived.

“Look I’m not going to harm you.  I just want a look around.  A friend of mine was taken here last year I’m just trying to find out more about the people who did it,” he called out in his most reassuring and trustworthy voice.

He waited and after a few minutes a dishevelled man emerged from the little office.  He looked at Owen cautiously.

“You police?”

“No mate.”

“You going to kick me out?”

“No.”

“You can have a look around.”

“Cheers,” Owen replied and began to survey the room to prove that he wasn’t interested in harming the man.

Apart from the presence of the Tramp’s things and the absence of paint tins the hall looked like it had last year.  That included the frightening fresco of the apocalypse.

“I’m surprised you haven’t gotten rid of that,” Owen commented feeling surprised that Jack hadn’t gotten rid of it either.

Owens eyes were drawn to the image of the team killing Lisa, a human Lisa.  They had had to answer some awkward questions with the police over that.

In the end they told the police who Lisa was and that she had died in the terrorist attack on Canary Wharf, it was a matter of public record.  Gwen had still been a police officer then and Torchwood had been very visual trying to prevent needless deaths while the streets were filled with Cybermen.

They allowed the police to come to the conclusion that the kidnappers were trying to brainwash Ianto, turn him against Torchwood.  If they had interviewed Ianto the story wouldn’t have been hard to believe.

“It’s a warning.  They kept asking him to leave you lot.  To accept their love and protection, they asked him for guidance, asked what would happen if he came with them instead of staying with you and he drew that.”

“You were there?” Owen asked.

“I’ve lived here for years.  Whenever anyone comes I hide in the office.  They cleaned up out here, made sure he wouldn’t hurt his feet, threw away some of my stuff but I got it back.

“One of them was always here so I couldn’t leave.  They didn’t bother to check they were alone though, I don’t think they cared.

“They walked him in here like a zombie, took his clothes off, asked their questions, filmed him, painted him.  He painted that in answer,” seeing the sceptical look on Owen’s face the tramp added.

“Say this for your friend he has a nice arse and a nice package.  A couple of them really enjoyed painting him.  Not quite my type, too thin.”

“He’d lost his girlfriend,” Owen said indicating Lisa’s picture.  “She’d been dying for a few months and he’d been taking care of her but not himself.”

“Ahh, I understand that’s what laid me low.  I lost the woman I loved and then lost everything else.  I had no one looking out for me and I stopped caring.  This place suits me.

“Him though they said... They said he had a generous heart.  Wanted to know why he couldn’t accept their love.”

“Did they love him?”

“Differently but yes.  The older man was fatherly, the youngest man and woman were like siblings.  The older of the women, she was one of those that enjoyed painting him, like he was a friend you lust after and the other man, the pale one, was similar but with a hint of regret, like there was someone else who now meant more.”

Owen immediately went for his note pad and asked the tramp to describe the group and events in greater detail.  He was an excellent witness having seen them in daylight before they brought Ianto back here that night.

“Did the police ever question you?”

“No.  When they left I got out.  Heard you lot coming, knew he’d be safe and didn’t want to get into trouble.”

“Fair enough,” Owen replied and looked once more at the fresco.

“I’m surprised they let us keep him,” he said softly looking at the image of himself and the others gunning down the Welshman’s lover.

“They had to.  This is what would happen if they had taken him.”

“I don’t understand.”

“It’s a prediction of what will happen.  Your man is the key to preventing this but he had to stay with you in order to be able to do that.”

“But she was already dead.”

“It’s a metaphor for the destruction of the universe.  The image of her death makes it personal she represents the end of all those he cares about.

“They were not happy about it.  The older man said it was a temptation but the other man said it was also a lesson.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Nor do I but I don’t think it should be forgotten.”

They talked for a bit longer and Owen gave him some money as a thank you.  The interview had been enough to tell that food was the most likely thing the Tramp would spend it on.

He returned to the Hub only to learn Ianto had had his idea but was using the photographs and the mainframe to track down the observation points.  Tosh added the idea of looking at the CCTV footage of those spots with her usual genius.

When he got to Gwen’s computer he found some footage already waiting as well as the forensic reports from the Police and Tosh’s searches into Ianto’s brushes with cults.

He nodded his understanding to her before typing up his information from the tramp to aid their profiling.

Owen knew that Tosh was trying to shield Ianto just as Jack was.  She was doing a much subtler job considering the way the Captain was prowling around like a predator in a cage.

He also found an e-mail from Gwen with the details she had learnt so far from the journals about Ianto’s kidnappers.  Owen transferred the details into the profiles he had begun matching her descriptions of First, the current Fourth and the original Third.

That made the other two Second and Fifth but she hadn’t tackled their journals yet.  It also meant his profile on Third was of limited use and they had no idea what this E looked like.

Still the fact that Fourth once worked for Torchwood was a great help towards identifying him, especially as he was one of those rare people who retired.  Owen brought up the Torchwood One Personnel database and began a search based on the Tramp’s description.

As he worked Owen made the surprise discovery that even dead men could feel tension.  He didn’t realise how much Jack’s anxiety was affecting him until Ianto tricked him into interrogating the prisoner and getting out of their hair.

The Medic was sure that the prisoner was First.  Jack had read the profile he had pieced together from the Tramp’s statement and Gwen’s information during one of his patrols between where Owen was working and where Tosh and Ianto worked.

He hoped that the knowledge would help the Captain get a rise out of her.  He knew Jack wouldn’t resort to torture, Ianto would not have sent him to her if he believed the immortal would seriously hurt her.

Not for the first time Owen considered that Jack only led Torchwood in name.  Even Gwen during her tenure seemed now like a figurehead. 

The quiet unassuming Welshman was the one who really ran things but if he wanted to get paid Owen knew it was best to leave that thought to himself.

He turned aside from the profiles and began to concentrate on the CCTV footage.  They weren’t likely to get anything from them but he wasn’t going to let Ianto down by missing something because of laziness.

Owen realised that he was feeling the weight of responsibility.

If Ianto was the key to preventing the destruction of the universe, then he and the rest of the Torchwood team were charged with protecting him so that he could do just that.

Glancing at Ianto though, he had no idea how the Welshman could have such responsibility.  Sure this was Torchwood and he was the Archivist who looked after many dangerous artefacts but he was sure none of them were an Armageddon device.

Owen suddenly had the nagging feeling that he had forgotten something important. 

He went over what he was thinking, what he was looking at but nothing sprang to his mind.  Normally he would have taken time out, gone somewhere quiet to think his thoughts through.

Not today though.  He had too much to do and a friend to protect so he set the nagging feeling aside for later. 

Tonight he would search for the observation sites again but this time he would be armed with Tosh and Ianto’s vectors.

There would be plenty of time then to give his nagging feeling some quality brain time.

 

 


	10. Chapter Ten

Gwen Cooper felt sure that only Ianto had noticed as she emerged from the room where she had been ploughing through his stalkers journals.  He gave her an encouraging smile and said something to divert the others attention away from her as she headed to Jack’s office.

She wondered at how Ianto could be so at ease with them.  That he could make the small gesture to make her feel at ease.

Even knowing the truth behind the events the stalkers wrote about, knowing the reconciliations and the bonding working for Torchwood provided didn’t make their criticisms any easier to read.

Before Gwen could cross the last few yards to the office door she made herself remember last night. 

Rhys had been so wonderful.  He had let her turn all the lusts, jealousies and guilt reading the journals had made her feel into passion as they made love.

Then he’d held her and whispered reassurances as she sobbed herself to sleep.  He was just as wonderful in the morning when she awoke, he had given her the strength to come in to work and do what she had to do.

Jack scowled as he looked at her and she almost fled.  She felt like she deserved to be shouted at but at the same time didn’t think she could take the abuse.

“Sorry,” he said, his face softening in an instant.  “We think that’s First we have in the holding cell.  Just spent a couple of hours talking to her while she said nothing.

“I thought that maybe the fact that we knew what she called herself might make her open up.  Instead she looked at me like a teacher delighted with the progress of a slow pupil but wasn’t going to say anything because she wanted me to figure out the answers for myself.”

Gwen nodded accepting the apology and cautiously sat down.

“I think that’s because she does,” she told him.

“I haven’t read all those journals, there was too many of them, but I think I’ve read the essence.  If you want me to read more of them I will but I’d rather not.

“Did you read my e-mail?”

“Not all of it.  Owen found a tramp who witnessed the ceremony where they painted Ianto.  He used the tramp’s testimony and your e-mail to create profiles on our kidnappers, I read those.”

“Ianto set up a laptop for me I have sent the rest of the details to you, Tosh and Owen but you said you also wanted me to report in person,” she couldn’t help the edge of bitterness in her voice.

“That bad hah.”

“Yes it was just like Ianto predicted but then Ianto’s always right.”

Hurt flashed on his face and she regretted her harshness.  The journals had shown up her inadequacies as Ianto’s team member, more than any of the others except Suzie.  They had also highlighted his closeness to Jack fuelling a jealousy she shouldn’t feel.

“Sorry but a lot of what they wrote was difficult to read.  I know, I know they could only see what was on the surface and it didn’t help that First is quite the fantasist.”

“Fantasist?”

“She wrote a number of erotic fantasies in her journal, several of them about you and Ianto.”

“How do you know they’re fantasies?” Jack asked cheekily obviously trying to lighten the mood.

“Well unless the two of you have dressed up as a pantomime horse and been arrested for gross indecency I’m going to accept her word that she was just imagining it,” she replied in no mood to be cheered up.

“Oh kinky.  Was I the front or the back?”

“The back.”

“How come I’m the Captain?” he said it with such indignity that she couldn’t help smiling.  He could be so endearingly childish.

“She said that as the back not only would you give the world the shapeliest arse on a pantomime horse but it also let you be closer to Ianto’s,” Gwen almost regretted replying when she saw the faraway look on Jack’s face.  She considered warning Ianto but wasn’t sure that it wouldn’t give the Welshman ideas instead.

“So what’s your overall verdict?” Jack asked all business again.

“Fourth worked for Torchwood One and had access to an artefact that contained either and alien energy or an alien being and before he retired he decided to give it to a Vessel to look after.”

“Ianto.”

“Actually no he chose a senior scientist.  However something went wrong and somehow his chosen Vessel disappointed him.

“There was another set of journals written by another Fourth.  He however died and I think that the disaster that disappointed the current Fourth involves his predecessor’s murder.

“You see when Fourth gave his vessel this energy or alien being the others felt a call only they weren’t attracted to Fourth’s chosen vessel they were attracted to Ianto as though he was the vessel.

“Then the original Fourth died they brought the current Fourth into their group.”

“They couldn’t have chosen a more helpful set of secret codes?”

“You will have to take your complaint up with First.  She is the only one to have survived from beginning to now.”

“What happened to the others?”

“The original Fifth was another Torchwood One employee but I think he died during the battle of Canary Wharf.  Second was observing the battle from outside and was also killed.

“Third was a city worker he made sure no one traced Ianto to Cardiff before following.  His devotion to watching Ianto made him neglect his health.

“He met and fell in love with his replacement who persuaded him to be checked out by a doctor but it was too late.  He died around the time you went off travelling.

“The current Third is interesting.  He has the initial E and he used to know Ianto in childhood.  Third wrote about Ianto saving E’s life physically and emotionally.

“E was a proper stalker before he met the group.  His journals start after his predecessor’s death and they are full of sympathy and mourning.

“He didn’t have a good opinion of you until he witnesses you and Ianto together and sees that Ianto is happy.  His journals are full of romantic wishes for the two of you which I think are really his own wishes for a life with his predecessor that he never got.”

“You liked them,” Jack said with a sad smile.

“Yes.  These aren’t normal stalkers.  The current Second and Fifth had never even heard of Ianto but for no reason they felt compelled to come to Cardiff and watch over Ianto and make sure he was alright.

“As far as I can tell, although First claims an acquaintance with Ianto and writes as though he’s a shaggable friend only current Third has a real connection.”

“Yeah about that I’m not sure it’s going to be as helpful a lead as you hope.”

“What do you mean?”

“One of Ianto’s friends runs a children’s home.  He helps out when he has spare time, DIY that sort of thing but he also does counselling, gives them a chance to speak, ask advice from someone who isn’t one of their carers.

“He is also one of the emergency contacts for some of these kids.”

“Third said that Ianto encouraged E to stay at University and that Ianto didn’t remember.”

“Ianto’s friend use to be a resident at the home.  She only left to get her nursing degree and care giver credentials before returning. 

“It’s conceivable that E was a kid then and re-met Ianto later.  The home has a trust fund so that they can give the kids a helping hand when they’re ready to enter the job market or University.

“As for Ianto not remembering, either it’s because he considers himself as one of many children, or Torchwood happened and Ianto genuinely doesn’t remember.”

“I really thought I had something.  The home must be the Sanctuary they talk about.  It’s one of two places Ianto goes that they don’t follow.  The other is some island in the Bristol Channel.”

Gwen was looking in her lap and completely missed the look of alarm that flashed upon Jack’s face.  It hadn’t occurred to him that Ianto’s followers would know about Flat Holm but it seemed they had decided to keep its secret safe.

“Anything else?”

“They are definitely following Ianto for Torchwood reasons.  There was a warning at the end of the last journals that someone else they feared was coming.

“I think the reason you are getting nowhere with First is that you have already given her exactly what she wanted.  She wants Ianto safe and out of harm, I think they lead us to that house knowing you would shut Ianto up in the Hub.

“From First’s point of view they are sacrificing their positions as Ianto’s protectors to put us on alert.  She believes there is someone else out there after Ianto, someone who doesn’t have his best interests at heart.”

 

 


	11. Chapter Eleven

Ianto glanced at the door to Jack’s office as Gwen left but had turned back to his work so he didn’t notice Jack follow her seconds later. 

“Okay everyone finish off what you were doing and go home.  Except for Ianto of course, if you would come with me,” Jack ordered tugging Ianto back towards his office.

Everyone began to protest including Ianto.  Sure it was nearly ten at night but all of them wanted to find out what was happening.

Jack ignored all of them.  As soon as he had Ianto in his office he kicked the door shut and kissed him.

Ianto felt himself being manoeuvred towards the hole where Jack’s room was.  When they broke from the kiss there was something in Jack’s eye that halted any further protest.

Once in Jack’s room Ianto swiftly found himself stripped, marked with lovebites and made love to.  There was the same urgency in the Welshman’s lover that there had been the night before; as if all the reassurances and progress made today had been wiped out by one three hour conversation.

Jack seemed determined to bliss him into unconsciousness again but he wasn’t going to go without answers.  He stilled the immortal’s hands as they hoped to renew his interest in sex.

“It’s bad isn’t it?”

“Gwen thinks that at some point in time at Torchwood One you came into contact with an alien energy or being and part of it is in you.  That’s why these people have been following you, they have been trying to look after you, protect you.”

“By kidnapping and stalking me?”

“Whatever it is they think you’ve got has the potential to destroy the universe.  There are others out there who want to use what you have and when they make their attempt it will all rest on you.

“When they took you, it was after Lisa, they wanted to make sure we were the right people to leave you with.  They knew we could give you physical protection but they were concerned that psychologically...”

“They could see I was neglected and unappreciated and were worried that if this other group got hold of me I wouldn’t care.  They wanted to be sure Torchwood wouldn’t drive me into a deeper depression,” Ianto said for him and Jack nodded.

“Ianto I...” Jack began after a few minutes of silence and Ianto halted him.

“When you brought Owen back to life, Tosh said something she now regrets, not because it isn’t true but because Owen believes, or chooses to believe she didn’t mean it.  Saying it only made things worse.

“I’m not neglected and unappreciated now.  I knew when I chose to stay in Torchwood it would be difficult but that I found the place where I belonged, where I was needed.

“I have friends who care for me and I have you to... I have no intention of being the one responsible for the destruction of the universe,” he informed Jack defiantly.

Jack pressed a finger to Ianto’s lips to halt any further talk.  With a determined look of his own the immortal renewed his bid to ensure the Welshman felt nothing but pleasure until sleep took him.

All of Jack’s efforts though were wasted as Ianto’s sleep became wracked with nightmares.  There were slight variations but always the same two dreams.

The first was his old nightmare.  He was in the room he had used to house Lisa but now he watched as bullets hit Jack.

He looked to the shooters and saw Gwen, Owen and Tosh sometimes with John Hart, sometimes with Jack himself.  Their eyes looked cold, Ianto couldn’t tell sometimes if they thought his death was necessary or if they enjoyed it.

When Ianto looked back to Jack they were no longer in Lisa’s room.  They were outside sometimes in Cardiff, sometimes London and sometimes the countryside.

A few times when Ianto turned it was to see the cannibals or weevils feasting on Jack’s raw flesh.  Always his lover’s blood flowed out of him, over the ground, like a river.

Then the sky would turn green and the blood would burn whatever it touched.  He saw Cybermen and Daleks and Abbadon killing everyone as the world turned to flame and the Universe to cinders.

The only way the second dream was better was that it was shorter.

It always started like a normal innocuous dream.  Then suddenly the team would shoot Jack with some sort of energy weapon.

Ianto would watch as he disintegrated before his eyes.  Then John Hart or the Doctor or Billis Manger would say.

“I’m so sorry but he’s gone forever.”

Then the sky turned green and everything crumbled into dust in seconds.

Each nightmare sent Ianto screaming awake.  He would feel overwhelming loss and grief and it would take an age before he realised he was in Jack’s arms, that Jack was alive and trying to reassure him.

Nightmare after nightmare eroded all Ianto’s determination and faith.  A cold suspicion crept in that there was something he would destroy the universe for and mantra reminding him that Jack couldn’t die didn’t help.

When morning came, Ianto lay awake making no effort to move.  He just stayed where he was, entwined with Jack, until his bladder gave him a final demand to get up and relieve himself or wet the bed.

They showered together and Ianto let Jack wash him then dry him and dress him.  It was like the immortal was dressing him with special armour to protect himself for the day.

Jack and Ianto emerged into the Hub at the same time that Gwen arrived.  The look of disappointment on Owen’s face twisted like a knife in the Welshman’s gut.

“I don’t want to alarm anyone but have any of you heard from Tosh?”

 


	12. Chapter Twelve

Toshiko Sato wasn’t able to decide if she was amused or irritated by Jack dragging Ianto off like a caveman after his conjugal rights.

It was obvious that whatever Gwen had reported was bad, again the ex-PC left without looking at them.  To the Technical Genius that meant they should keep on working not get a room.

“Well I hope they keep the noise down,” Owen said and Tosh looked to see the same determination to keep going on the Medic’s face.

She felt however that he’d jinxed things.  For a normally quiet man, Ianto did have a very loud voice.

Tosh couldn’t concentrate especially when Jack decided to make it a duet.  However she’d already thought of a contingency plan.

Just as Owen was about to go over to the office and tell them to shut up Tosh came over with a laptop.  She began to download his search programs and profiles into it.

“Let’s take this somewhere a bit quieter,” she suggested and he grabbed the lap top bag and practically dragged her to the exit.

They were out of the door before the events under Jack’s office reached their climatic conclusion.

They went to her place and she swiftly set up links to the mainframe.  Toshiko continued to work on finding where the stalkers had watched Ianto from while Owen worked on Gwen’s information to figure out who they were.

They worked until it was obvious that the Technical Genius was flagging with tiredness.

“I should leave and you should get some sleep,” Owen said gently.

“But...”

“You’re going to be no use to Ianto if you collapse from exhaustion.”

Toshiko knew he was right.  She was trying to keep up with a man who was no longer capable of feeling tired.

“What will you do?” she asked as she escorted him to the door.

“Now I have these locations I’m going to scout them out.  If there’s no signs of anyone there I’ll take a closer look.

“Now go get some sleep.”

Owen smiled at her as he headed out and for a moment her world brightened.  Then he was out of sight and she felt the weight of her tiredness.

She chose to accept his advice knowing that it was better for her to be at her peak.  Tosh got ready for bed and was asleep in no time.

The shrill cry from her phone jolted Toshiko awake.  It was close at hand, ready for any emergency and she answered it without checking the caller ID.

“They’re coming for you.  Get out of there n...” The voice was modulated so that she didn’t recognise it but it sent fear through her, no one outside Torchwood should have her number.

She looked at her phone and realised she hadn’t been cut off, it had lost signal.  That was almost impossible in this apartment; it was one of the things Toshiko checked for when she got it.

Swiftly Tosh got out of bed and got dressed in minutes.  She paused only to secure her laptop, it wasn’t possible to take it with her, and she was gone.

Toshiko went to the staircase furthest from her apartment and went down wearing only socks on her feet.  She knew the front and back entranced were likely to be covered but there was a third option.

She could hear Gwen admonishing her and Ianto praising her ingenuity as she picked the lock to the ground floor apartment.  Tosh moved stealthily across it to one of the windows and let herself out, vowing to make Jack compensate the owner if anything happened as a result of her actions.

Once outside she slipped on her shoes and began to move away from the building looking left and right.  She was on the wrong side to get to work swiftly but that’s why she chose this exit, less likelihood of it being watched.

Despite knowing it was futile she checked her phone.  It had to be a fancy piece of equipment to block her signal over such a range, especially as she has made her own improvements to it.

Tosh remembered the CCTV blackout Ianto’s kidnappers had used to hide their crime.  Yet the warning she received didn’t fit with that, unless they wanted her outside and vulnerable and she’d fallen for it.

Well Toshiko Sato wasn’t that easily caught.

The clock on her phone told her it was gone four in the morning.  She set off in a jog away from her apartment, her car and the Hub.

She was dressed the part too. 

Ianto had once told her that he’d taken up jogging so that it wouldn’t look odd when he was visiting Lisa while she was housed in a warehouse.

Toshiko had said that she couldn’t really imagine him in a tracksuit and he told her that was part of the outfit’s beauty, if anyone had been following him they might not realise it was him and if they did, well he was just going out for a jog.

After the incident with Mary, Toshiko didn’t feel as safe as she once had.  It was one thing to expect danger at work but she’d let herself be picked up by an alien and then be stalked home was different.

She could put the incident down to the fact that she felt lonely and rejected by Owen.  If she was honest with herself she could also accept the fact that she felt so used because she wanted the fantasy Mary offered to be true.

Mary had made Tosh feel vulnerable.  Everything that had happened to build her confidence up since Jack rescued her from a UNIT prison threatened to erode away.

Realising that her jewellery had tracking devices in them helped.  Tosh was wearing as many as she could get away with right now despite the hazard they caused to stealth.

The trackers didn’t just make her feel safer, they told her that Ianto cared for her.  Then he had still been mostly cut off from them, still grieving, but he had cared enough to want her to be safe and that meant a great deal to Tosh.

The realisation was the reason she went out and bought a new outfit, the tracksuit, t-shirt and trainers she was now wearing.  An escape outfit for if she needed to leave her own apartment in a hurry, chosen in Ianto’s honour.

It seemed to be working.  When she had gotten far enough away she felt safe to risk circling around towards the Hub.

Toshiko checked no one was around and checked her phone for signal.  There was still nothing.  _How wide was their jammer’s range?_

Unconsciously Tosh began to jog faster.  She increased her pace again when she heard a car approaching.

As it appeared she knew there was no way to outrun it.  She ducked down an alley hoping it would be too small for a car to follow and ran straight into a man.

He grinned at her in a way that said kidnapper.  She struck him, knocking him over, and ran on.

She turned back to the road and continued.  Tosh looked left and right and saw more people appearing in all the alleys.

_Who are they? Gwen’s reports say there are only five of them.  I seem to be being chased by a small army.  Did they have all the roads and alleys around my flat covered and I didn’t notice?_

Then Toshiko realised her mistake.

They had the whole area covered but they were looking for a neat business woman not a jogger.  When she sped up, she’d given herself away and now they knew and were closing in.

She halted knowing there was no point in running anymore but she wouldn’t be taken without a fight.  Tosh raised her fists and slowly counted them, ten, fifteen, twenty.

They weren’t trying to be intimidating.  They just looked her over as if determining whether she was the one they wanted or not.

Two cars pulled up blocking the road.  The lights of one flashed and Tosh realised it was the confirmation signal seconds before they began to close in.

She kicked, punched and scratched them as they surrounded her but there were too many.  Tosh recognised the smell of chloroform coming from the cloth covering her face seconds before she lost consciousness.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

_“I don’t want to alarm anyone but have any of you heard from Tosh?”_

 

The team barely finished a round of looking at each other and shaking their heads when the computers all beeped.  They all crowded around Tosh’s workstation as Owen typed in commands to find out what was happening with the rift now.

“It’s a message,” Owen said slightly surprised as a video file popped up on the screen.

It was a close up of Toshiko’s face.  Her mouth was gagged and her eyes were frightened but defiant.

Ianto was reminded of their time in a cannibal dungeon where she was determined to both find a way out and keep his spirits up.  He studied the image trying to see how badly they’d hurt her, see if there was anything useful to locate her with.

“You will transfer three billion pounds to the account number on the screen by five o’clock or she will die,” an electronically modified voice informed them.

They barely had time to check the account number if they wanted to before the video cut off.

Ianto closed his eyes feeling nauseous.  This was all his fault.

“Damnit, damnit, damnit,” Jack shouted.  “I should have thought of this.  I should have realised that if they wanted Ianto that desperately they would go after one of you.”

“Well we’re not going to let them keep her,” Ianto said determined.

“No, no way.  I know how much she means to you but you are not going out there.  We both know Tosh isn’t the real victim, you’re the prize they’re trying to get at,” Jack said turning the Welshman to face him and holding his shoulders hard enough to bruise

“And if you give me a few minutes I can program a tracker that will lead you straight to her,” Ianto replied calmly.

Jack’s brow wrinkled in confusion then his eyes went to Ianto’s watch.  Barely a second passed between realising that his lover wasn’t going to let Tosh track him without returning the favour and kissing him.

Ianto felt breathless and dizzy despite it being a short kiss.  Jack steered him to Tosh’s console and he set a tracker to home in on the devices he’d placed in the jewellery his friend was wearing.

While the Welshman, worked Gwen and Owen tooled up and headed for the SUV.  Jack headed for the cells and added some more security so that Ianto couldn’t go and talk to the prisoner while they were out.

“I want you to co-ordinate things from here,” Jack said when he returned and accepted the tracker.

He gave the Welshman another kiss to reassure him.  “I’ll bring her back.”

“I know you will.”

Jack sprinted to the garage and was glad to find the doors opening as he jumped in the SUV.  He started the car and was speeding out in seconds.

Ianto gave very clear directions which he followed carefully.  He’d learnt the hard way that when the Welshman gave you a route it took into account traffic and stealth options.

They parked and ran the distance to the abandoned warehouse.  They scouted around checking out the soldiers who were guarding the place.

He listened as Ianto gave him the rough layout of the warehouse from the blue prints.  Unfortunately he couldn’t tell Jack exactly where Tosh was being held but he had the handheld tracker for that.

Jack could tell immediately that they really needed more than just the three of them but there was no way though that he was letting Ianto out of the Hub.

“You know apart from the goons on the entrance they’re quite evenly spaced apart.  I brought along a little experimental something we might be able to use,” Owen said and he handed Jack the tranquilizer rifle he’d been carrying.

“The darts don’t contain sedatives they contain a paralytic.  They won’t pass out they’ll stiffen so if one of the others happens to look their way they will see their colleague upright and in place.

“The thing is though, I’ve not tested it.  I know it works fast in theory but not how good it is for the health of the one being shot.”

“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.  Stay here, watch the door,” Jack told them.

Jack headed for one of the neighbouring warehouses and went up to the roof, lying down in a position where his targets were easy to watch.

He hated being a sniper.  There was something very impersonal about picking people off that worried him.

However, Jack set aside his concerns easily.  The health of his team were always more important that his moral concerns.

Besides in theory this gun didn’t kill.  Even if it did he was saving Toshiko, Ianto would absolve him of anything he did today if he rescued Toshiko.

He picked the most isolated man to test Owen’s darts on and fired.

Jack watched as the man silently froze in place.  Satisfied that the paralytic worked he rapidly shot everyone else on that side.

He then got down and made his way swiftly to the warehouse on the other side where he repeated his actions. 

He also spotted a way in, the fire exit door was made of security glass and from where he lay Jack could see no one on the other side.

The immortal was not impressed with these people.  Sure the show of force was good but no alarms had been raised that meant they weren’t checking in with each other.

“Nice call with the paralyser,” Jack said as Gwen and Owen joined him at the foot of the fire escape. 

“It was Ianto’s idea.  I’ve been worried about gun recoil given my current condition and despite our fancy upgrades.

“He suggested using a tranq gun and different kinds of dart.  I figured now was as good a time as any to test my paralysers.”

Jack nodded and started up the stairs.  The climb was agonizingly slow because the metal clanged at the slightest movement.

Jack used the PDA Ianto had given him to deactivate the fire alarm and forced the door open.  They were grateful that no one had heard them coming and put a guard in place.

The lack of anyone at the Fire Exit seemed particularly stupid, partly because they obviously had enough people to cover it but mostly because the tracker indicated Tosh was being held in one of the upstairs offices.

It was a sign that these kidnappers weren’t the ones who’d been stalking Ianto.  While Gwen’s profiles had suggested they were mostly ordinary people, Fourth was ex-Torchwood One, no way would he not have his people checking in or guarding a glass doored fire exit.

The guards at Tosh’s door and inside the room were swiftly dealt with.  The relief of finding her tied up but unharmed was tainted by the realisation that this was all too easy.

Suddenly the whole incident felt like a diversion.  It occurred to Jack that if there were any weakness in the Hub’s security then someone watching, like Ianto’s stalkers, would have found it.

“Ianto we have Tosh and we’re bringing her home now,” Jack said over the comms as they bundled back into the SUV.

“Is she alright?” the question filled the immortal with relief, Ianto was safe.

“Slightly bruised but Owen has given her the all clear until he can give her a more though examination.”

“And the rest of you?”

“We’re all fine,” Jack smiled partly at the relief his words gave and partly in pride at Ianto’s concern.

“That’s great I’ll have some coffee waiting for you.”

He drove like a demon back to the Hub, but he needed to make sure Ianto was okay despite hearing his voice earlier.  Jack couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right, that even now he was being played.

“Ianto how’s our guest?  Ianto?”

The Welshman made no reply and Jack increased the car’s speed.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

Waiting behind was agonising.  Ianto knew that Jack would bring Tosh back but he hated not being there rescuing her.

He put his feelings aside as he navigated the SUV to where Tosh’s trackers were coming from.  There was road works and rush hour traffic to negotiate but Ianto had made a point long ago of knowing the most efficient routes.

While doing that he traced where the video message had come from.  It had used sophisticated programming to penetrate the mainframe’s security but it had originated at an internet cafe.

There was no CCTV around it and when he checked the details of those using the cafe at the time no one stood out.  It would have to be investigated in person.

When the SUV arrived just outside the co-ordinates he checked out who owned the building where Tosh was being kept.  He wasn’t sure whether he should be relieved or concerned that it was owned by the bank and not the trust that bought the building he’d been taken to.

He brought up the plans for the warehouse and gave Jack a rough verbal description despite sending a copy to their PDA’s.  Ianto was certain that only Gwen would actually look at the layout as he spoke.

The number of guards around the building surprised him.  Ianto had no idea what it was that he had which was worth such a force.

He smiled when Owen suggested using the tranquiliser gun.  It didn’t just give them the stealth option but it also meant that there was a possibility of questioning some of them later.

Part of him would normally have been concerned that the medic was about to use an untested drug.  Today however his only concern was that it should work so that they could get Tosh back.

Everything went silent.  He wanted to find out what was happening, if the drug was working.

It took all his effort not to use the comms and ask.  He just kept repeating to himself that Jack needed to concentrate.

Then Jack called Gwen and Owen over to the fire escape.  He felt his cheeks glow with pride and embarrassment as the medic explained his part in suggesting the gun the Captain was praising.

There was silence again.  It was worse this time.  They were entering the warehouse and none of them knew what they would find.

Ianto’s stomach churned and he felt nauseous as his imagination ran riot.  He went over all the things that could go wrong, all the problems they could encounter, all the terrible things that could have been done to Tosh since the video was made.

He wanted to get up and pace but knew the best thing he could do was stay seated.  What if they needed information, getting back to the desk could cost vital seconds.

“Ianto we have Tosh and we’re bringing her home now,” Jack voice sounded in his ear but the Welshman didn’t let himself feel relief, not yet.

“Is she alright?”

“Slightly bruised but Owen has given her the all clear until he can give her a more though examination.”

“And the rest of you?”

“We’re all fine,” Jack’s voice had never sounded so dazzling or spoken words so wonderful.

“That’s great I’ll have some coffee waiting for you.”

As he cut communication relief washed though Ianto.  He had been so worried, felt so guilty.

Like Jack, Ianto felt that he should have considered the possibility that the others might be targets too.  He knew Toshiko had been chosen because of her closeness to him.

Ianto would never have been able to forgive himself if anything had happened to her.  She had helped him through so much while Jack was away, he wasn’t sure what would have happened if she hadn’t looked out for him.

He let his mind deconstruct all the scenarios it had been concocting and let the thoughts of a happy reunion take their place.  Jack was going to be disappointed that their sex life was going on hold because he wasn’t letting Tosh out of his sight until this was all over.

Still all these ideas weren’t going to get the coffee made.  No four people deserved his special blend more, he would even dish out some chocolate hobnobs from his secret supply.

A wave of dizziness washed over him as he stood.  He clutched Tosh’s chair and took deep breaths putting it down to relief and getting up to fast.

Ianto took off his jacket as he realised how hot he felt.  He folded it neatly over the back of Tosh’s chair and rested his hand on top of it for a while to steady himself.

It took him a few seconds to remember why he’d gotten up.  _Yes, coffee for the heroes_.

It took two more steps for him to realise that relief and worry had nothing to do with the nausea and giddiness that he’d been experiencing.  He got to the sofa and collapsed onto it.

Ianto wiped sweat from his forehead and wondered what it was doing there.  He put checking the Hub’s thermostat onto his to do list.

It took him a while to remember the coffee again.  His head felt like it was full of fuzz.

He told himself it was just lack of sleep, lack of caffeine, the fact that he was coming down from an adrenaline high.

Ianto was still thinking up excuses about why he felt so awful when he passed out.  The last thing he remembered was the vague sound of Jack calling his name.


	15. Chapter Fifteen

Jack felt his heart stop as he scanned the Hub and found Ianto collapsed by the couch.  Owen pushed him to get him to move towards his lover.

Spurred into action the immortal ran to check Ianto’s pulse, it was slow but steady like his breathing and his skin was fever hot.  They checked him for obvious injuries but found nothing.

“Ianto, Ianto can you hear me?” Jack begged.

The Welshman’s eyelids fluttered slightly but they didn’t open.  Owen went around Jack to examine Ianto for himself.

He sped down to autopsy and came back with a bottle and syringe.  Jack rolled up Ianto’s sleeve so that it could be delivered.

“Antibiotics, he’s showing all the signs of a major infection we’ll get him down to the medical bay soon,” Owen told him. 

Jack glared at him but Owen stared back at him the same way he stared down Weevils.

“Jack he seemed perfectly healthy before we left and now he’s collapsed in the middle of our supposedly secure and empty base.  Given what’s been going on we need to make sure he’s not like this because we have an intruder.”

Jack knew he was right.  Ianto seemed stable for now and the Welshman would be the first one to scold him for not checking that they were still secure.

He kissed the Welshman’s forehead and headed over to Tosh’s computer.  He was surprised to see a number of information windows still up from when they were rescuing the Technical Genius.

He checked the security logs and activated the base’s heat scanners.  He found four human sized life signs were present outside the cells, two were heading for the medical bay and two right here in the main Hub.

Next he checked the security on the cells.  Everyone was accounted for including First.  The additional security he’d added to her cell hadn’t been touched.

The only activity recorded in or out of the base was then they left and returned.  Other than that Ianto was alone.

“We’re secure,” Jack informed Owen as he crossed back to them.

As gently as he could Jack lifted Ianto up.  His lover whimpered quietly but didn’t wake up.

Jack hardly noticed his weight as he walked down to the bay.  The girls were already there and both looked at the Welshman in alarm.

“Let me take a look at him,” Tosh said trying to get up.

“No sweetheart you have to stay where you are.  We need to check your injuries and Ianto wouldn’t want you making things worse,” Gwen said gently pushing her back down on the bed without dislodging the needle currently taking her friend’s blood.

“She’s right Tosh I’m not letting you go anywhere until I’m satisfied that you’re okay,” Owen added and she lay down resigned.

“Gwen I need you to go and check though the CCTV find out what happened to Ianto before he collapsed.”

The Ex-PC had just finished drawing Tosh’s blood sample.  She nodded to Jack and she went immediately, accidently taking the vial of blood with her.

Toshiko made another attempt to get out of bed and check on Ianto.  This time Jack stared her into staying put.

“How are you feeling?” Owen asked Jack as they undressed Ianto and examined him.

“I feel fine why?”

“You’re the one who exchanges the most bodily fluids with Ianto you’re the most likely person to be infected to.”

“I feel fine and my physiology is slightly different from Ianto’s.”

“And how was Ianto this morning?”

“He’d been having nightmares all night and was a bit tired but other than that he’s been fine too.”

The medical exam over, they re-dressed Ianto and tucked him into the bed.  Jack wondered what it was about hospital bed robes that made the patients look more fragile, or perhaps it was all those beeping monitors.

“Okay I’m going to collect some samples and take them to the lab.  Tosh I’ll give you another examination then would you be able to help me?”

“Of course.”

Owen worked swiftly and efficiently in giving Toshiko the all clear.  He then took samples and the two of them headed to the biochem lab.

Jack was left alone to stare at the prone figure on the bed.  Ianto looked so fragile as he whimpered and burned.

“I’m sorry I failed you,” Jack whispered feeling the full weight of his words.

How could this have happened?  He’d taken every precaution but it hadn’t been enough.

Jack grabbled a chair and sat by Ianto’s side.  He dabbed his forehead with a damp cloth and took hold of the Welshman’s hand, stroking his thumb across the back.

“You have to fight this Ianto.  You have to fight and wake up.  I’m not ready yet.

“Those words you stopped me from saying last night, you’re right I’m not ready to say them.  Not because I don’t feel... I think I’m not ready to acknowledge the fact that one day...

“Does it hurt you?  Does the fact that I’m not ready hurt you?

“I’m going to tell you something and if you ever repeat it I will torment you in the most sensuous way I can, over a period of days.

“I’m old Ianto.  While I waited for the Doctor I had hundreds of relationships from the serious to the casual none of them ever lasted.

“There was always something, the fact that I was waiting for the Doctor, the fact that I work for Torchwood, the fact that I’m immortal and cannot age, cannot die.

“You know the last time I met someone I thought was the one, I gave up Torchwood and the Doctor and other people to marry her, have a child.  I was happy for a while but the relationship turned sour just like all the others.

“You accept so much, understand so much about me and yet I still fear that, still fear that one day you’ll hate me like she did.

“My own daughter looks the same age that I do now.  One day you’ll look the same age I do.

“I can practically hear you saying if I’m lucky.  I hate the way you just expect to die young and accept it.

“It’s like after Lisa you stopped feeling like you mattered.  You’re not one of Hartman’s ‘Queen and Country’ people but the planet, humanity became more important than you.

“I wonder sometimes if I had stayed, if I hadn’t left would you be able to see how much you matter.  If I hadn’t broken you further.

“You matter a great deal to me.  More than...

“When this is over, when you’re better and the creeps are all safely locked away how about we go away together?  Just you and me somewhere nice for a while with no Torchwood?”

Jack looked hopefully down at Ianto.  He wasn’t whimpering anymore but he wasn’t waking up.

“You’re right it isn’t going to happen is it.  I mean it took me months for finally take you out on a date how can the two of us get an opportunity to go away.

“Ianto please wake up.  Please don’t leave me.  I need you.  I...”

The knock and the door pulled Jack upright from where he’d been whispering in Ianto’s ear.  Gwen cautiously entered.

“How is he?” she asked and he just shrugged.  He didn’t know what was wrong with Ianto and he hated that he couldn’t fight it.

“I’m sorry I disturbed you but there’s been a Weevil sighting near the Castle.  I was just going to...”

“No,” Jack said firmly.

He wasn’t going to lose anyone else.  Toshiko had already been taken he wasn’t going to risk Gwen as well and Owen was needed here.  Part of him wanted to let Cardiff fend for itself but he could just see the dismay and self hate in Ianto’s eyes if anyone died because he was out of action.

“Stay here and watch Ianto for me.  I’ll deal with it.”

“But...”

Gwen got no further as she was pushed into the chair he’d vacated.  He passed Owen on the way out and told him where he was going.

He didn’t say it but he was almost grateful to have to deal with the Weevil.  He really wanted something to take out his frustration and anger.

Jack therefore felt justly proud when he managed to chase the Weevil back into the sewers without hurting it too much.  He could just imagine going back to the Hub to tell Ianto and being rewarded for being such a good boy.

Only it didn’t finish with one Weevil, no sooner did he report the outcome but there was another to deal with and another.

Five Weevils later he returned to the Hub hoping his lover was awake and ready to do anything to make it up to him.  Only when he returned things for Ianto had gotten a lot worse.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

Doctor Owen Harper looked at the two unknown microorganisms in Ianto’s blood and smiled.  For once he’d been very lucky.

Since his death and resurrection Owen had been worried about his abilities as a doctor.  As Torchwood’s pathologist he was fine but as a doctor he wasn’t so certain because so much relied on touch from taking a pulse to feeling for small lumps that shouldn’t be there.

To Jack he boasted that he was fine, a brilliant doctor, nothing to worry about.  To himself he was a little afraid that he would be asked to do something his feelingless fingers couldn’t handle.

On the day before PC Andy’s phone call to Gwen, Ianto came to see him about a mysterious pain.  He was a bit vague about where it was but he seemed worried and demanded a full medical.

Owen wasn’t fooled for a minute.  Ianto was the kind of man who wouldn’t complain of pain if his leg was broken in three places.  He was however, the kind of man who would sacrifice anything from his dignity to his life if he saw a friend in a dilemma and could get them out.

So the day before all this trouble began Owen did a full medical.  It went well especially when Ianto occasionally, ‘innocently’, offered suggestions on how he could get around his problems.

The result was that Owen had blood samples and test results to compare with this one.  He couldn’t decide if he was pleased or disappointed that the germs were not present.

Owen’s earlier examination of Ianto’s body had revealed that the only new wound was the cut on his finger from where he painted Jack’s face with blood.  The only other mark was where he’d injected him with antibiotics.

Given the number of love bites, Owen was disturbingly confident that Jack had give Ianto’s body a thorough examination over the last two nights, if anything was amiss he would have pointed it out.

Owen decided that he needed to figure out what Ianto had been doing for the last few days.  Tosh was insistent on looking after the medical tests to see if they had any better treatments so he did his own searches while he waited for the results.

Even though he already knew, he checked the Welshman’s medical record.  No reports of him catching any alien infections either here or at Torchwood One.

He decided to check on Ianto’s progress and arrived just as Jack was heading out after Weevils.  Owen could tell the immortal didn’t want to go but he could also tell that he was going for his quiet Welshman.

Owen gave him a quick examination, he was worried that Ianto had stopped whimpering but his temperature, while being too hot wasn’t rising into the danger level.  He was also showing no signs of entering a coma.  He took a second blood sample to see how things were progressing and left Gwen watching over him.

When he checked the results they were frightening.  One of the microorganisms had grown at an alarming exponential rate.  The only good news was that it didn’t seem to be attacking Ianto’s body.

Owen began a search of their database to see if there was any record of anything similar.  The problem was that they were quite out of date, despite Ianto bringing him files to check.

Then he remembered they had Torchwood One’s database.  Jack refused to integrate the two directly and Ianto was trying his best to get the files approved and transferred across but it was slow.

Owen supposed that now he had more time on his hands he really should do more work on that.  He’d have to get Tosh to set him up a secure link at home; there was no way he was going to hang around the Hub while Jack and Ianto played.

He began to search Torchwood One’s database, leaving the computers working out approximately when Ianto caught the viruses, and turned to the program tracking the Welshman’s movements, he had to do something while waiting for the test results.

Ianto had gone home after the medical exam so it was possible he was infected then.  Owen remembered the camera outside his friend’s house and again made a mental note to ask Jack if he had any CCTV footage.

It was easier following Ianto’s movements when he returned to the Hub the next morning.  Owen chose to skip any footage of them in Jack’s office and concentrated on when the Welshman went to the archives.

Ianto didn’t go into the main archives themselves instead he entered the Pending room which fortunately also had a camera.  It was where recent artefacts were stored so that they could be sorted and held for a few months just in case they weren’t finished with them.

Although Owen has sped up the footage he didn’t see anything to indicate the Archivist had been surprised by something.  Besides all those artefacts had also been handled by Gwen or Tosh with no ill effects.

Then came PC Davidson’s phone call which sent them to the house where the stalkers collection was.  Ianto was alone in that house for a while but again everything he could have touched had been handled by Gwen.

He was positive Jack’s eyes never left Ianto when he did that stupid walk to the park.  Owen could then follow the Welshman with the CCTV as he was confined to the Hub.

From then it was obvious that Ianto was never alone, except to make coffee and bathroom stops, until they all went out after Toshiko’s kidnappers.  Owen noticed the slight change then, the first signs that the Welshman didn’t feel well.

The computer calculations confirmed that the virus began to multiply around the same time as the kidnappers’ message.  They’d all been looking at him there was no way he could have gotten infected then without them noticing.

With an ominous beep the Torchwood One database gave its results.  Three medical reports appeared and they were all Ianto’s.

Owen had never seen these records before, they weren’t even official Torchwood reports let alone classified but they had been hidden, waiting.  Then he noticed that the one who’d written these reports was Fifth.

_Fifth as in the stalker they suspected had died during the battle of Canary Wharf?_

_Gwen’s report hadn’t mentioned that he was a doctor so maybe he was a lab tech.  He certainly wasn’t Ianto’s regular doctor; she died before the battle.  His one from the Psychic Research Program perhaps?_

The first report was dated not long after Ianto began working in Torchwood One’s Archives.  It clearly showed the presence of both microorganisms.

The next was nearly a year later.  Owen could see a very nasty strain of flu and the least prolific of the microorganisms.

It was acting like an immune cell.  The lesser of the two was acting like some kind of anti-viral agent.

The third was from just after the Ghost Shift project was activated.  The activation of the Ghost Shift killed half of those in the Psychic Research Program and the other half, like Ianto, were knocked out by it.

This report had an addendum to it with the blood work from the other members of the Psychic Research Program who also had this anti-viral agent in their blood.  That didn’t make sense unless it was somehow responsible for their recovery.

It was a mystery but it did mean that Ianto had had these two microorganisms in him this whole time.  The question is why did the second one suddenly activate?

Owen asked the computer to give him all the sensor data from the time the video was received to check for foreign agents.  Not being a big fan of coincidences he also asked for an in depth analysis on the kidnappers video as well.

While that was happening he decided to take another blood test.  He wanted to see if the antibiotics were making any difference and to check the progress of the alien anti-vital agent.

When he got there Tosh was sitting with Ianto instead of Gwen and reading to him.  She told him she had sent him her results and asked if he wanted help with the new results.

Owen thanked her but declined.  He knew how much Ianto meant to Tosh and knew she had already run all the tests she could, and told her one more sample analysis wasn’t going to change anything at this stage.

That was where Owen got it wrong because there were no longer just two microorganisms in Ianto’s blood, there were over eight.

Owen watched in horror as five of the new viruses attacked Ianto’s cells and each other.  However if they came into contact with Ianto’s original virus the bonded together to make a new virus which then bonded with more viruses.

Owen couldn’t understand it.  It wasn’t possible.

He checked the alien anti-viral agent.  It too had had an increase in numbers, he would have to check with the computer but Owen was willing to bet that the increase would suggest the sudden addition of five new doses.

The medic ran back to the medical bay.  There was an idea forming in his mind but his biggest concern was Ianto and how his body was coping with these sudden new infections.

When Owen entered he halted in surprise, Ianto was alone.

Brushing that aside he ran over to examine the Welshman.  He did so very carefully because Ianto whimpered at the slightest touch. 

He found them though; five puncture marks from injections he hadn’t administered.

Owen grabbed the Bekaran deep tissue scanner and focused it on his friend.  He watched the war of viruses change and one hybrid of the six original viruses begin to attack Ianto’s body.

There was hardly any sign of the Alien Anti-Viral agent until he scanned the brain.  There it seemed to be concentrating, acting like a barrier to the super-virus, almost as if it was protecting Ianto’s mind.

Owen looked away as he pondered this and his little idea when he noticed it.  Ianto’s skin was no longer a smooth pale pink, it was changing texture and colour before his eyes.

Of course at that moment Jack chose to return.  A detached part of Owen felt that it was extremely unfair that he should still be subject to terror after death.


	17. Chapter Seventeen

Jack growled as soon as he saw Ianto.  His beautiful lover was covered in different coloured scales, still very beautiful but wrong.

He looked at Owen feeling very angry.  The Medic backed away and picked up a chair to use like a lion tamer.

“Look mate you don’t want to do anything to me.  You’ll regret it if you damage me, especially if Ianto finds out.  Besides that isn’t the original infection doing that and I’m the only one you can trust.”

Using Ianto’s name pulled Jack’s anger up short.  He could practically hear his lover telling him to calm down, that Owen was trying his best.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that he only had the one virus before you left and I’m the only member of your team that cannot be influenced by biological agents,” he replied.

Confusion must have shown on his face because Owen hesitated for a second then made a decision.  He put down the chair and beckoned Jack over to the computer.  He brought up the lab results, fifth’s hidden records and explained what he had found while the immortal was away.

“I don’t understand why...?”

“Look I have a theory just a second.”

Owen tapped a few keys and a new set of blood tests appeared on the screen.  Again they had the Anti-Viral agent and a virus but not the one Ianto originally had, it was one of those that he had been injected with afterwards.

“This is First’s blood sample.  I took it when we brought her in and ran the usual tests but I never looked closely at her blood because she showed no signs of infection.”

“Did she...?” Jack began but Owen interrupted him.

“You checked yourself when we found him and I double checked.  She never left her cell and Ianto never visited her. 

“Fifth’s test results prove that Ianto’s had the first virus since he worked for Torchwood London.  That means whatever the ceremony was when they kidnapped him last year it didn’t involve giving him an alien infection, besides I have loads of test results from that time and it wasn’t there or at least it wasn’t actively there.

“Now I have a theory.  Gwen said that that Fourth gave some sort of energy or alien being to be hosted by a Torchwood Scientist but that somehow Ianto was contaminated by it.

“What if she was thinking too big?  What if it wasn’t an alien energy he was talking about but this alien virus and anti-virus?”

“That does make sense it’s easier to spread a disease than split an alien consciousness.  Also any energy release would have been recorded by Torchwood One. 

“What I don’t get is why couple a virus and an anti-virus?” Jack asked.

“I don’t know beyond to keeping the host healthy and free of other infections.  The theory falls down when you remember that Third died of a terminal illness, perhaps it was too malignant for the anti-virus to cope.

“What I don’t understand is how the anti-virus was spread to the other victims of the first Ghost Shift incident.  I highly doubt Ianto snogged them all.”

“Pheromone like secretions, this whole medical bay smells like Ianto it’s overpowering the usual disinfectant smell,” Jack replied and Owen chose not to ask how certain he was.

“Flu viruses can live outside the body could an alien anti-virus?  It doesn’t even have to be spread through the air it could be spread by the nurse or doctors through touch,” the immortal continued.

“You notice that we’re giving a microorganism a degree of intelligence.”

“It does feel like that though.  Unless it was Fifth who infected all the others, the only reason for the anti-virus to spread itself is to prevent the doctors from finding out it’s the reason Ianto recovered.”

“I agree with you there.  Of course you’ve not asked the big questions yet,” the medic pointed out.

“How did the virus in Ianto’s blood get activated and how did those other five viruses get there?” Jack said certain he didn’t want to have the answer to the latter question.

Owen tapped a few more keys on the computer.

“I don’t like coincidences so I have analysed Tosh’s ransom video let’s see what the computer found.”

There was a series of images that made no sense and a sound that caused Ianto to cry out in pain.  Owen silenced it immediately and went to check on his patients.

“What was that?” Jack demanded.

“A subliminal signal.  Everything we see, everything we hear triggers a neurochemical reaction within our brains.”

“And this one told the virus it’s time to activate?”

“These are constructed viruses Jack.  They are alien but Ianto’s system didn’t recognise it as a foreign organism until it was activated.

“First has one of the other viruses and I suspect her colleagues do to.  That’s what draws them to Ianto.  Their viruses kill each other on contact but if they come into contact with Ianto’s virus they combine to create a supervirus.

“That’s what’s changing him.  I doubt it’s a purposeless change.  I think First and her group are trying to prevent this.

“Ianto believed his kidnapping was a test.  We passed, we were deemed worthy of protecting him.

“Gwen’s report said that she thought First exposed herself and her group deliberately so that we would confine Ianto to base because there was another group she wanted us to protect him from.  I think this other group are the ones who want this change to take place.”

They looked at each other in silence for a moment.  Jack took a deep breath knowing he had to face what he’d been trying to deny.

“It was Tosh wasn’t it.  I can see for myself the speed these viruses multiply at.  That’s why they kidnapped her to infect her with a virus to make her loyal to them. 

“They used the fake ransom demand to activate the virus in Ianto and if he didn’t come in person to get her, then she injects him with the others the next time she’s alone with him,” Jack said despairingly.

“It doesn’t necessarily have to be Tosh,” Owen said cautiously.

“What?”

“It could be Gwen.  Think about it, Rhys didn’t pick her up last night and she’s taken Retcon so that she doesn’t remember those journals.

“Now Retcon wouldn’t affect a virus.  All they had to do is snatch her on her way home, give her the virus, find out about the retcon plan and send her back to Rhys who witnesses her taking it.

“They then kidnap Tosh so that they can send the demand to activate the virus and if Ianto doesn’t show up to rescue her in person, then they have Gwen to inject him as backup.

“Now there is the blood sample Gwen took in Autopsy but it can only confirm that there is a virus influencing the girls.  I am fairly sure there will be a virus in the blood sample if I check but is it there because Tosh has a virus or is it there because Gwen added it after she left the medical bay with the sample.”

“So we can’t trust either of them.”

“Not until I take a blood sample from both and independently prove which one it is.”

“Great this gets better and better and Ianto’s getting worse and worse.  Has anything you’ve given him helped?” Jack asked.

Before Owen could answer all the lights went out.

 


	18. Chapter Eighteen

The emergency generator for the medical bay kicked in with barely a blip in the beat of the equipment’s beeps.  Low level lights turned on seconds later

“We’ve gone into lockdown,” Jack said sounding confused.  This was all so much to take in and now they were without power.

Jack went over to his lover and gently touched his beautifully alien skin.  He kissed him on the forehead not caring if he got infected to.

It hurt that Ianto whimpered at every touch.  Jack hated seeing the Welshman in such pain after all that he’d been forced to experience.

“Listen mate, whatever has caused this lockdown I’m sure it’s not good.  What do we do?” Owen asked.

Jack rose and turned to Ianto’s jacket and dived into the pocket for a flash drive.  He knew it would be there and that its capacity and speed had been suped up by Tosh.

“You need to go and hide.  Find somewhere secure where you can work on reversing this mess.  You have to go Owen.  They can’t kill you but they can damage you,” Jack said handing him the drive.

“All that data you just showed me it’s on the mainframe server.  While we’re in lockdown it can’t be erased but I doubt we will stay that way for long.

“A soon as the power comes back on you need to access a terminal and download the information immediately onto this drive before whichever of the girls did this deletes it.”

Jack then went to one of the draws and got out some blood sampling kits.  He handed one to Owen to take more of Ianto’s blood and then used one on himself.

“What about you?” Owen asked as Jack handed him the blood.

“I’m not leaving him without a fight.”

Owen nodded knowing it was useless arguing.  He left the medical bay heading towards the lower levels.

Jack turned back to Ianto’s bedside, settled the chair and sat down.

“I’m so sorry I failed you.  I’m sorry I let this happen.  I don’t know what’s happening to you Ianto but I’m not leaving you.  You have to hang in there Ianto.  Owen’s going to find a way to fix, to make you human again and if he can’t, well you’re still beautiful to me.

“You know it’s been a while since I had lizard sex.  Not as hot in bed as mammals literally but highly erotic and they love to bask in the old post-coital cuddle.”

Jack stroked his hair and noticed that it was coming loose in his fingers.  He looked at the hairs on his lover’s arms which were also being shed as the scales formed.

“I bet you’re going to find being hairless all over embarrassing but you’ll still be my Ianto, I’ll still want you even if you’re bald and smooth.  Although I hope your hair grows back, I love running my fingers through it, all of it.”

Jack wasn’t sure how convincing he was especially as tears ran down his cheeks.  What was worrying him wasn’t the physical transformation but the mental one.

If these people had used a virus to turn Toshiko or Gwen against them then what effect were the multiple viruses having on Ianto.  Was the man in the bed still the lover he’d held that morning?

The other problem was that if he did lose Ianto then how did he get revenge?  Would Gwen or Toshiko still be inside or would they be lost too.

Germs were one of the worst enemies Jack had ever faced.  He had seen them kill more men in the trenches than German bullets.

Between his Fifty-First Century physiology and his immortality, disease wasn’t something he had to worry about for himself.  Seeing it in others, knowing that there was nothing he could do to aid the fight made him feel truly helpless.

“You have to still be in there.  I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.  You have to fight, you have to hang in there.

“Ianto I...”

He could hear running boots approaching, too many.  The noise they were making meant there had to be at least five of them.

Jack stood up and kissed Ianto lightly on the lips.  He wasn’t worried about catching anything, in fact part of him wished to have the virus too, that way he wouldn’t be alone.

He went around the bed and drew his gun.  He was going to kill anyone who came in here and he didn’t care who.

He never got the opportunity to even see them.  The door was forced open and a canister was thrown, gas spraying from it.

Jack tried to resist the sedative effects of the gas.  When he realised it would incapacitate him before whoever was outside came in he turned back to the bed.

He staggered as he reached it.  With all his effort he heaved himself onto the bed and lay over Ianto and the Welshman moaned in pain.

“I’m sorry, so sorry.  I...”

Jack felt the gas pulling him into sleep.  His last thought was how cold Ianto felt beneath him.


	19. Chapter Nineteen

Owen hated having to leave Jack and Ianto but the immortal was right.  Being dead made him fragile and he couldn’t risk them damaging him.  Of course being dead also gave him an advantage when it came to stealth as he had no body heat to track.  Of course they didn’t just have to use body heat to find him.

As soon as he was a good distance from the medical bay he began to make his way up.  They were less likely to search the upper levels as all the good places to hide were in the archives.

Taking a huge risk he went to Myfanwy’s nest and sighed with relief that the prehistoric bird was sleeping.  

Very slowly and carefully he took out his phone, comms, PDA and with reluctance his watch, he didn’t want to risk the possibility that someone could pull off the same trick Ianto had to rescue Tosh, and placed them just inside the nest room’s door.

He made his way along the upper levels to the other side of the Hub before heading back down.  Owen was going towards another unlikely place for Tosh to check for him, Jack and Ianto’s Playroom.

The Playroom used to be part of the railway driver’s accomodation when the four Torchwoods were connected by rail, now it was a couple of rooms dedicated to sexual pleasure.

Owen had found out about the Playroom while Jack was away with the Doctor.  Ianto had gone there to say goodbye not knowing that the Captain had rigged the door with an alert that told anyone at his computer that the Welshman was horny and up for it.

He discovered later that the door to the station was the only one that unlocked in the event of a lockdown.  It was a safety feature introduced after the tunnels were blocked off because, in certain areas, if more than two people were trapped in there they would suffocate before the lockdown ended.

That didn’t stop Ianto in equipping one of the old store rooms with a heavy duty escape kit just in case.  Fortunately for Owen that kit included a portable generator that could power up the Playroom.

The generator was something Torchwood had salvaged from an alien ship a few decades ago.  It was about the size of a small briefcase and wasn’t too heavy to carry for long periods of time.  It had been easy to adapt for use in emergency situations.

There was one feature about the Playroom that neither of the girls knew about.  Tosh didn’t know because she was a good friend and was too busy looking after Ianto when his secret was discovered.  Gwen because all she could see was the rooms use as a den of sexual pleasure by a man she half wanted and a man she hardly knew.

Owen because he was nosy, and at the time alive and sexually curious, had noticed the computer sitting unobserved in the room.  It was set to alert anyone in the room of changes to the Rift so that they could stop what they were doing and deal with it.

It was also used to store the footage of Jack and Ianto’s exploits on a separate drive of the server that could only be accessed by the computers in the Playroom, the Captain’s Office and the Archives.

Because of the additional security getting into the playroom, Jack hadn’t bothered so much with the security on the computer.  It had none of the lockdown’s security protocols nor could it give any details about the Rift Alerts, anyone would have to go to the main Hub for that.

It did however have a more direct access to the mainframe memory than any of the computers in the central Hub as the bulk of its use was to record, store and retrieve erotic material. 

The mainframe servers never turned off in the event of a lockdown, they went into sleep mode and became inaccessible to all the computers affected by the protocols.

Just a few fancy commands and Owen was past the private server and into the server where the backups of the medical data he’s been working on were stored.  Moments after that the information was transferring onto the fancy flash drive Jack gave him.

Once the backup was complete he quickly erased his tracks and shut the computer down.  He unplugged the generator and took it with him as he left the Playroom.

He turned away from the main Hub and headed down now.  Owen had no idea where he was going but the advantage of that was that hopefully the people who now were in control of the Hub had no idea where he was.

Owen wondered how Ianto could stand working in the archives.  He was dead so the greatest mystery of life couldn’t scare him anymore but the unknown corridors filled him with dread.

Considering Ianto’s life so far Owen speculated that, as he knew some of what the worst things out there could do, dark corridors held no terrors for the Welshman.  Another part considered that he had just gotten used to them in the hours of solitude when he was an unintentional outcast during his early months.

More likely, knowing Ianto, it was simply because he had studied a map and memorised exactly where he was going while working down here.  Normally Owen would also have access to a map but it was on his PDA, which hopefully wasn’t going to pass through a pterodactyl’s digestive system.

Apart from not being lost what Owen really needed was a lab.  Data and a couple of blood samples were useless if he had nowhere to tests it and it was likely that all the labs were the first place the bad guys would regularly search.

He was sure the people who built the Hub must have thought of this situation.  In the event that the Hub gets overtaken by infected hostiles there had to be somewhere hidden where he could work without detection.

A daft idea popped into his head, _If I had a warped sense of humour, I’d hide an emergency lab in the archives under E for emergency._

He snorted humourlessly to himself but he couldn’t shake the notion.  There was something about Ianto and his ever prepared nature that just made the notion hidden emergency lab feel real.

All he had to do was find it but that meant he had to stop being lost in this maze of tunnels.

Thirty feet later Owen’s torchlight caught something on the wall.  It was a laminated pouch and inside was a map of the archives.

 _That’s archivists for you, prepared for those who enter unprepared at their peril._   Of course Ianto, being a Torchwood archivist, had labelled everywhere in code.

Owen was fairly certain that ‘Sexy Welsh Arse’ was where Ianto’s office was, especially as it was written in Jack’s scrawl, which meant he had approved of his Archivist giving the lost directions.

There were several very interesting and desirable items located on the map and anyone foolish enough to go hunting for them would probably end up in a trap.

It was an unlikely label of ‘Doctor’s Orgasm Room’ that caught Owen’s attention.  He knew that if Jack had a hand in writing this map then the ‘Doctor’ referred to was a Time Lord not himself.

That confused him.  Owen had read up on the Doctor during Jack’s absence.  He had been worried about Ianto as well as confused and hurt for himself, so he wanted to know what was so great about the Time Lord.

The thing that struck him the most was that the Doctor didn’t seem to be that interested in sex.  Adventure and excitement with a pretty young thing hanging onto his every word, yes, but actual sex, no, which was odd given Jack’s predilections.

Okay practically everything in the Hub could probably get the man excited but to get him close to orgasm it would have to be... have to be...

A science lab, the emergency science lab, one where he could set about solving the problem at hand without the threat of discovery and death which, considering what Owen knew of the Time Traveller’s experiences, was probably the Time Lord’s wet dream.

He couldn’t believe it.  There couldn’t really be an emergency science lab whose position was marked on a helpful map in code?

Owen however didn’t really have much choice and he couldn’t risk not taking the chance and getting captured while using one of the labs upstairs when it was searched.

Even if this room turned out to be something else there was always the possibility that he would find a landmark he recognised on the way to lead him out of the maze.

Carefully the Medic studied the map and headed to where he hoped he could start helping his friends without being found.


	20. Chapter Twenty

Consciousness returned to Jack with a dull ache across his entire body.  He forced his eyes to remain shut as he assessed his situation.

He was upright, on a chair.  His hands were tied securely behind his back.  Ianto’s scent continued to permeate the air.  Someone was moving around him.

It didn’t sound like he was in the medical bay anymore.  There was no hush or any gently beeping.  Instead there was the movement of equipment with the harsh ring of scraping metal.

“How much longer are you going to be?” growled a harsh, strange, male.

“Half an hour or an hour maybe,” the sound of Ianto’s voice made Jack open his eyes involuntarily.

He was in one of the equipment store rooms.  The strange man in the doorway grinned nastily at him from behind his gun before looking at someone behind him.

“Hurry up,” he growled.

“I am going as quickly as I can.  You knew that I might not find everything I need straight away and might have to improvise.  Be grateful that... be grateful we can access Torchwood and its equipment,” Jack could hear subtle differences in Ianto’s voice now.  His tone was submissive and slightly light, effeminate in a way Ianto never was.

“Why are you taking so long in here?  I don’t want to have to spend all day babysitting you, especially now he’s awake.”

“This is the high security equipment store most of what I need is in here,” Ianto replied walking into Jack’s eye line and out the door.

Jack gasped in shock at the sight of him.  The hair on Ianto’s head had completely fallen out and he was covered in the same scales his face.  It was difficult to tell in the dark but there were patterns to the scales that looked familiar.

Ianto’s walk was different too.  It was as though he wasn’t used to his body.  He kept his head bowed in diffidence as he passed the guard, not looking in his master’s eyes.

A deep aching pain settled in Jack’s heart.  That beautiful lizard wasn’t Ianto, not anymore.  How could Owen possibly reverse such a transformation?  Was Ianto even in there to get back?

_I’ve lost Ianto._

Grief overwhelmed him and time became meaningless.  He didn’t care what their plan was anymore, they could destroy the universe and the only thing that would have concerned him was whether or not he could die with it.

Then Jack felt regret.  It was so clear to him how he felt about Ianto, why could he never just say it?  Why couldn’t he take the risk?

He already knew why.  The irony was that while Ianto knew he loved Jack, longed to be told how much he was loved, Jack knew the moment he said those words he would be rejected.

Ianto wasn’t ready to be told he was loved any more than Jack had been ready to tell him.  The immortal knew it was his fault.  He had run off with the Doctor when Ianto was still fragile with grief and love.

Ianto had been waking up after Lisa’s death, still rebuilding himself and he had given his new relationship with Jack, his unintentionally growing feelings, a central place in that self reconstruction. 

With Canary Wharf and Lisa’s death Ianto had lost his confidence and self worth, they were just beginning to grow again; but by leaving Jack only confirmed how unimportant he was.

Since his return Jack hoped he was making amends.  He could see that, thanks to the team, Ianto had been given the chance to grow, to get his confidence and self worth back in his absence.

The Captain hoped his presence was now enhancing that growth.  Ianto was strong and brilliant alone but with Jack he shone brightly sometimes with happiness.

Ianto just wasn’t ready to accept those three very important words and only dire circumstance would make the Welshman say them.

Jack’s misery was interrupted by Ianto’s reappearance.  He moved around the restrained man to get more equipment.

“Do you have to keep coming here?” the guard on the door groused.

“Yes she does,” came a reply from the last person whose voice Jack wanted to hear.

_Why couldn’t it have been Gwen?  Ianto would have found the betrayal much easier to handle if it had been Gwen.  She didn’t get a choice either._

Toshiko Sato beckoned to Ianto and the lizard man scurried to her.  She still looked human but not like herself, to cold, to arrogant and to controlling.

Ianto went meekly to her, not looking at her eyes.  Tosh raised a hand to his face and ran it possessively over the young man’s scales making him sigh.

“You’re going to be a good girl for me now aren’t you Pharen,” Tosh crooned.

“Yes Duram,” Ianto replied and a spark of recognition fired in Jack’s brain.

Jealousy surged through Jack as Toshiko grabbed Ianto and pulled him towards her.  Her kiss was brutal, domineering and the lizard man let out a whimper as he trembled beneath her possessive hands.

Duram, she wasn’t Tosh anymore, pushed Pharen, he wasn’t Ianto either, away.  The lizard that had once been Jack’s lover staggered but stopped short of hitting one of the shelves.

“You a word,” Duram commanded to the man at the door.

“But...”

“Come,” she overruled the guard’s protest and he followed her out but not far because Jack could hear Duram.

“Pharen knows better to try anything stupid.  She has lots of work to do and you are slowing her down by making her nervous...”

Jack suddenly became aware of Pharen looking at him.  She looked at towards the door where Duram appeared to be in full flow then suddenly he straightened and looked at him.

She carefully put the tray she was carrying down and was by him in two strides.

“I’m sorry Jack,” Pharen whispered and his heart faltered in its grief because with those three words the lizard sounded a lot like Ianto.

Then she was leaning into him for a kiss.  Jack wanted to stop it; then wouldn’t stop it for anything.

He closed his eyes and for a few seconds he let the familiarity of the swipes around his mouth transport him away from this nightmare.  It was the unmistakeable kiss of Ianto Jones.

Then those lips were gone.  Ianto was back holding his tray and putting equipment on it before Jack opened his eyes again.

Duram and the guard entered seconds later.  Jack hated the way Durham/Tosh looked at Ianto, cold and with complete surety of ownership.

“I have all of it now,” Pharen announced in her meek voice and Jack wondered if that kiss had just been a daydream.

“At last,” the guard complained.

Then they all left and Jack heard the locks of the secure storeroom sliding into place.  He was in complete and total darkness.

He couldn’t stop thinking about the kiss, the spark of hope that Ianto was still inside Pharen.  Even if they couldn’t make him human again perhaps he wasn’t lost.

Then there was Duram, where had he heard that name before?

Jack suddenly realised that it was becoming increasingly difficult to think.  The storeroom felt hot when the air conditioning used to preserve the components should have made it feel cold.

A sudden fear gripped Jack that the kiss contained more than just an exchange of affection and saliva.  A dizzy tiredness drew him back into unconsciousness as Ianto’s last words echoed in his mind, _I’m sorry Jack._


	21. Chapter Twenty-one

Gwen Cooper had felt off kilter all day.

Her first clue was the familiar pleasant soreness which indicated that she and Rhys had had a good time the previous night but without the hangover that usually came when she couldn’t quite remember what sort of good time she’d had.

The Ex-PC was certain something was up when Rhys made her tea and toast without asking and without her practicing her non-existent telepathy skills.  Breakfast arrived with a folder and a video tape.

Rhys explained to Gwen what she had told him about Ianto having stalkers and her having to read through what they’d written.  She could remember the conversation and a vague feeling of guilt but that was all.

He told her that the folder contained her notes on what she’d read that she’d given the others.  The video tape she’d insisted on making last night and judging from his slight snugness and his hasty, modest, retreat to the shower, he had something to do with that pleasant soreness.

She looked from the folder to the video tape for a few second before putting the video on and watching.  Gwen was startled by how harrowed she looked.

“I don’t know if you’ve read the folder yet but I can tell you that it contains only the edited highlights.  I don’t want to remember what I read it was terrible I haven’t been able to face the others since I started this.  You need to be good to Ianto

“Rhys, he’s been so wonderful though this and hopefully here’s a reminder why you love him.”

There was a moment of fuzz where she’d switched the camera off then on again.  Five minutes later she joined Rhys in the shower to let him know that what she’d said and done last night were just as real this morning.

Clean and satisfied she sat down to a fresh round of tea and toast and began to read the folder.  It started with a letter from herself full of self recriminations listing all the ways she could have been nicer to Ianto.

Gwen read the letter wondering what she had read in those stalker’s journals to make her feel like this.  She could still feel an echo of guilt which she couldn’t remember feeling since Jack left.

Her own feelings towards the Captain had clouded her judgement in those early weeks when she’d began to take command and hold the team together.  She’d almost forced Ianto to leave and tried very hard until Jack’s return to make it up to him.

Ianto was a difficult man to know well.  He was private and reserved and her lingering feelings for Jack would always make it easier for him to be Tosh’s friend rather than hers.

Gwen resolved that she would do better in future.  Her letter could be seen as a reminder to herself not to let Torchwood make it easy for her lingering feelings for Jack get the better of her and allow her friendship with Ianto to slide.

The almost loss of Owen made it far too soon to lose someone else.  She was determined not to let these people have their way.

Unlike the reports Gwen had sent to the others, in her own folder she had included a synopsis of how the stalkers felt about each member of the team.  As she read their opinion of her, she knew why she had felt so dreadful.

The feelings of guilt and self recrimination were washing over her again when a note slipped out.  It surprised her because it was in Rhys’ handwriting.

 

_While you were reading the full horror Ianto told me to remind you that they aren’t real.  They are the opinions of observers, they know nothing of the hearts they can’t see.  Wasn’t sure what that meant at first but I think I do now._

_Do you remember when I first learnt about Torchwood, how you got my reasons for being at the warehouse all wrong and how I felt about your special ops lies?  It’s because we were judging on what we could see and were told._

_They only know what they see and are told, the real you, the wonderful, compassionate, feisty woman who cares for justice and what happens to others, I don’t think they saw her because all they had to watch was the cool, in control Torchwood Agent._

_I know the real you and so do your team, including Ianto.  Don’t let their lies make you forget her._

 

Those simple words warmed Gwen’s heart and she went to ask Rhys about the note.  Only she found no words to say. 

Instead dragged him back to bed to give him a second reminder of how wonderful he was, while Rhys was intent on reminded her of how brilliant she was and how much he loved her

That meant of course that she arrived late, just in time for the team to discover Tosh had been kidnapped.  Then there was the whirlwind rescue and before Gwen knew it she was helping the Technical Genius down to the medical bay.

She felt her heart plummet when Jack carried Ianto in.  All her efforts that she could no longer remembered, all her intentions for the future and now she had failed.

Was it any wonder that she’d jumped to Jack’s orders and not realised she’d taken Tosh’s blood sample with her.  As soon as Gwen noticed the vial in her hand she labelled it and put it in the fridge in Autopsy.

Gwen felt a bit like a spare part.  She couldn’t help with the science and Jack had sitting with Ianto covered, leaving her wondering what to do next.

She read Owen’s profiles on Ianto’s stalkers as well as all the other information they had gathered in the hope of finding something to help.  It was quite a relief when the call about a Weevil sighting came in.

Gwen had not expected to be confined to the Hub too.  She was going to protest that she wasn’t helpless when Jack asked her to sit with Ianto.

She realised that her Captain had gone into an overprotective overdrive and saw in him the same need to do something warring with the need to be with Ianto warring with the desire to keep the team safe.

Gwen agreed and quietly did as she was told.  She watched Owen perform his medical before sitting in the chair Jack had vacated.

“You hold on Sweetheart Jack will be back soon.  He’s got some Weevils to sort out and without you and with what happened to Tosh he can’t risk anyone else.

“I know you’re stronger than anyone gives you credit for so I know that you’re going to fight this.  You’re going to come back to us, back to Jack.”

She brushed her fingers through his hair and held his hand like Jack had before she interrupted.  Gwen felt a sense of failure and helplessness just sitting there.

She decided to run over what she’s learn from her file and Owen’s profiles.  Using him as a silent sounding board, half hoping he’d wake up and give her some advice as to what to do next.

An hour later Toshiko arrived to take Gwen’s place.

“How are the tests going?  Do you know that it is yet?”

“No not yet and the tests are still being processed.  I just wanted to sit with him.”

“Okay but when you have to get back to them let me know and I’ll sit with him again.”

Tosh nodded and Gwen headed back to the Hub.  She looked around for something, anything to do.

Then she remembered the prisoner.  Like Owen and Jack, Gwen didn’t believe in coincidences anymore.

Gwen didn’t have a clue what was on the agenda with Ianto’s stalkers but Tosh’s kidnapping, Ianto’s sudden illness they had to be things their prisoner either knew about or tried to prevent.

Suddenly excited that there was something for her to do Gwen headed to the cells only to come across Jack’s extra security.  She knew why it was there, he hadn’t wanted Ianto talking to the prisoner and now he was out hunting Weevils and she couldn’t talk to the woman either.

Gwen didn’t have a clue where to begin overriding Jack’s security protocols but she knew a man who did.  Admittedly he was currently unconscious but he wasn’t the sort to let that prevent him from giving assistance.

She made her way back to the medical bay and arrived just as Tosh was injecting something into Ianto.

“Antibiotics,” the technical genius explained.

“I just came for...” she said vaguely but Tosh had already turned away.

She went over to Ianto’s suit and looked through the pockets until she found his PDA.  Gwen took it with her and headed down to the archives to use the Welshman’s computer.

While she’d admit to getting bored through Ianto’s health and safety lectures she remembered that he’d written how to guides to help colleagues in any situation when he wasn’t around to help.

_Always thinking of a bleak future, I must do something to change that._

His terminal she was certain would have the easiest access to the ‘How To Guides’ and it was surprisingly easy to search for security overrides in the event that Jack was incapacitated.

A quick check of Ianto’s PDA told her that he had several programmes in place to deal with the extra security on the prisoner’s cell.  Gwen marvelled how Jack thought he could keep the woman from Ianto if he was really determined to see her.

Before shutting down the computer it occurred to Gwen that Ianto probably had files somewhere relating to his kidnapping last year.  There was bound to be copies of the initial police reports in there somewhere and it would be a good idea of have a refresher of them.

She did a general search by date and programmed the files locations into the PDA.  Gwen didn’t feel that she had time to whittle out the alien related files from the kidnapping related files so Ianto was just going to have to have a go at her later.

Having collected all the files she headed for the cells again.  She flicked through them while the PDA did its work overriding Jack’s security.

She found the file related to the kidnapping and paused in her efforts to open the door to read it.

At the same moment that Jack returned to the medical bay to find that Ianto was looking like a lizard, Gwen got through his security and entered the corridor to First’s cell.

 


	22. Chapter Twenty-two

It took a lot of Gwen’s inner strength to prevent herself from retreating from the look of hate in First’s eyes.  She held Rhys’ message and this morning’s love making like a shield against it.

“I don’t know why you’re looking at me like that.  I’m not part of a group who murdered a man in order to kidnap another.”

The stare of hatred faltered.

“You mean you don’t remember the mugger one of your lot shot, I know he wasn’t mentioned in your diaries or was he just so unimportant when compared to Ianto. 

“I know Ianto never felt that way.  He insisted that if we ever got any further evidence that we would pass it onto the police so that his killer could face justice.

“How much do you lot really know about Ianto?  Do you just see a quiet, oppressed, sexy young man?  Do you know how brave and courageous he is?  How compassionate and caring?  Do you know smart he is or how funny?  Do you know the lengths he will go to too save someone?

“Is that why one of your lot kidnapped Toshiko?  Did you get bored of just watching again?  Did they want you back or did they just want the chance to touch him again without you?

“Did you enjoy that?  Touching him when he couldn’t resist?  It’s a pity whatever you gave him didn’t put him in the mood, think of the fun you could have had then of course some of you could have had fun anyway...”

“We wouldn’t do that,” First shouted.

“No?  I read your journals you certainly fantasised about it.”

“We would not risk him, we cannot hurt him.”

“Cannot hurt him?  How do you think he felt begin taken against his will, drugged and painted for your pleasure?  Ianto’s a very private man.  How do you think knowing he is being watched made him feel?  How do you think knowing he was pawed at by strangers made him feel?”

Gwen felt angry and protective towards her friend.  While she would admit to not knowing Ianto very well, she knew him better than these people who were presuming a relationship just because they watched and fantasised.

“What’s happened?” First asked urgently.

“What do you mean?”

“If all was well it would be him, the Captain trying to get answers out of me.  You said something about Ms. Sato what’s happened?”

“Your lot kidnapped her but we got her back.  Sorry about your goons, we don’t know how long they will be out of commission.”

“We don’t have goons and if that was all he would be here.  What’s happened to Ianto?” she pleaded.

“He was unconscious when we got back to him.  Don’t worry though Owen’s the best he’d sort it out.”

“You must beware her.  Toshiko Sato is one of them, perhaps the master host.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I can’t say.”

“Can’t or won’t.”

“Can’t we are under a compulsion, we all are.  Those who have been touched, including the vessel cannot harm each other, cannot stop the master plan.  Only one has ever been able to break the compulsion completely and only one had partial success and paid for it.

“We do not want it to happen but all we can do is watch over and protect.  If they want to make it happen we cannot interfere they will change Ianto.”

“Change how?”

“They will make him the creator of destruction.  They want what we wish to prevent.”

“What is this compulsion that you can’t stop them?  Who were the ones who manage to break it?”

“Before he joined us, Fourth chose a different vessel.  We were awakened but we were drawn to Ianto, we saw hope in him.  The other we knew would choose their way.

“The signal only we servants where called but somehow the other vessel knew it and its meaning.  He killed any potential servants he could find including our Fourth.

“We that survived were all unknown to him.  He went for Ianto but Torchwood stopped him.

“After the battle of Canary Wharf Ianto fled here and Third remained behind.  He ensured the others could not find a trail to follow, to insure Ianto was lost to them, his illness was his punishment for resisting the compulsion.”

“What happens if Ianto resists?  What happens if he doesn’t want to become the Creator of Destruction?”

“We do not know?  We were not sure if he had the choice that we have until he showed us.  I would be more concerned about Ms. Sato.”

“What?”

“We servants, we were all given a choice, work towards the Creation of Destruction as the others do or surrender glory.  My five chose a third path, we kept the knowledge to protect the vessel.

“Only five can be chosen for the master work but we all can sire acolytes to take our place.  You read in our books of how Third did this.  The others just heard the call when their predecessors died.

“Before the wrong vessel wreaked his destruction, the other group decided to change things.  One of them chose to remove the choice, to create a master to dominate them and the vessel.

“I know enough of your Ms. Sato to know she would never do anything to harm Ianto.  The only way she would go against that is if she was given no choice, if she was made the master.”

With unnerving timing that was the moment the lights went out and the Hub went into lock down.

“Run Gwen Cooper.  Prove us wrong.  Find your Owen and your Captain and stop them.  I’m sorry for the loss of your friends.”

Gwen turned towards the cell as the emergency lights went on.  She looked pleading into First’s eyes, the woman couldn’t leave the cell now.

“Just go, they can’t hurt me.  Prove us wrong and save everything.  Go,” First commanded.

She turned away and fled through the door.  Gwen was halfway to the main Hub when she heard strange voices.

 _Someone’s infiltrated the Hub_ , Gwen thought in shock not wanting to believe First’s words that Tosh was now a traitor.

She headed back towards the cells and grabbed the files she’d collected from the Archives and Ianto’s PDA.  Gwen wasn’t certain if there was anything useful in them but she wasn’t leaving them for the intruders to find, especially as there might be something in them that could help.

Heading for the archives seemed to be the most sensible thing to do.  It was a maze down there and anyone entering would easily get lost, anyone that wasn’t Ianto.

Gwen looked down at the PDA in her hands.  Maybe she did have a way to navigate the maze after all.

Thinking of her friend sent a wave of sorrow through her.  She hoped Ianto would be alright and that they wouldn’t hurt him further.

She wasn’t going to fail him.  She couldn’t run and hide she had to do something and the first thing was to check that there was a map or a Hub version of sat nav on this thing.

It was a surprise to see it requesting a Torchwood Identification Code.  She felt a little panic, she didn’t know Ianto’s code only her own.

Gwen sighed and punched in her own code.  She had to trust that Ianto was helpful enough to program his PDA for other users.

 

Hello Gwen

Please select the reason for the Lockdown:

  1. A Test
  2. Accidentally tripped
  3. To keep hostiles out
  4. To keep hostiles in
  5. Incursion



 

Gwen stared at the PDA screen in shock for a moment before selecting E.

 

For each member of the team please confirm their status from the following:

  1. Confirmed absent from the Hub
  2. May be absent from the Hub
  3. Known friendly
  4. Unknown probably friendly
  5. Unknown possibly hostile
  6. Known hostile
  7. Confirmed captive
  8. Probably captive
  9. Dead (Excluding Owen)
  10. Dead but may come back to life



 

 _He always thinks of everything_ , Gwen thought with a sigh as she selected  B for Jack, D for Owen, H for Ianto and with great reluctance E for Toshiko.  She didn’t want to think that her friend was now the enemy but this was Torchwood and she couldn’t take the risk.

 

Follow me

 

Ianto’s PDA led Gwen though several tunnels then told her to leave her phone and her own PDA behind before leading her away again.  When it stopped it had a new set of choices for her.

 

Do you want to:

  1. Find a safe place to hide
  2. Scout out the enemy movements
  3. Locate Jack (If returned without your knowledge)
  4. Locate Owen
  5. Rescue Ianto
  6. Get to armoury and tool up (Note: this option may trigger an alert)



 

Gwen looked over her choices for several minutes.  Hiding wasn’t an option and getting to the armoury was too risky at this stage.

She read them though one last time and made her choice.

 


	23. Chapter Twenty-three

Jack had been dragged into a nightmare by the infection in Ianto’s kiss.

He only had seconds to recognise that he was on the Game Station and there were Daleks all around him.  He was in the corridor leading up to where the Doctor had been creating the Delta wave.

He watched the figures fall, his team, those lovers who had meant to him more than they should, Martha Jones, Rose Tyler, both versions of the Doctor and finally Ianto.

All exterminated before his eyes.  He waited for his death but it never came.  Instead he watched as blood poured from Ianto’s body onto sand.

There was something familiar about the beach and sky but he didn’t know what.  It was an alien world and Jack only recognised it as the colony of his birth when it started to burn.

A familiar scratching filled the sky, it was in all his nightmare, the creatures that destroyed his home.  Jack watched the sky turn green and the sand around him turn to glass in the flames and shattered into nothing.

Then the blackness faded again and he was standing under a glass dome beneath a green sky.  Again he felt something familiar as he turned to address the three people behind a large desk.

They were lizard men like Ianto had become.  Their scales grouped in different colours made them easily distinguishable from the other.

He knew them, he’d seen this race long ago.  The room he stood in, that too was familiar but he couldn’t place it, it had to have been over a hundred years ago, before his first death.

“I know that you see the next project for me to work on is using the healer viruses to cure other diseases...” Jack realised he was the one speaking and felt frustrated when he was interrupted.

“Why not Pharen your work on eliminating genetic disorders has done wonders for the future of our people why not free them of all disease?” one of the lizard men sitting at the bench asked.

_Pharen that’s what Toshiko, that’s what Duram called the altered Ianto._

“The healing viruses I created have a short lifespan, they re-craft the recipient’s DNA to ensure that the disorder will not return and then they die.  You are talking about adding a long term virus to kill other viruses, one intended to last for the rest of the recipient’s life.

“The reason we have such trouble with disease is that they are constantly evolving.  While I could factor that evolution into a healing virus there is always the risk that one day an infection will learn to kill the healing virus or worse mutate it so that it is as deadly as the viruses it is meant to defend us from.

“Then there are the other long term problems.  Are these healing viruses to be passed to our children?  Will they change with them?  What if they eliminate all disease and our immune systems stop working?  What if we then encounter an alien disease that our dormant immune systems cannot cope with?

“No genetic disorders are one thing, this I will not ethically proceed with and I recommend that you dismiss any further suggestion, even from another source.

“I consider that the next stage is to create learner viruses.  Ones that allow knowledge to be saved and passed on,” the rest of his argument was destined to be lost forever as the doors behind him burst open.

“No it’s important that I speak to the council.   If you don’t heed my warning it could mean not only the end of Rucath but the end of the universe itself,” shouted a voice with a familiar northern twinge.

Jack stared as he, his original Doctor and Rose entered.  He had a moment to admire his good looks before he realised exactly what planet he was on what the Time Lord was trying to warn them about.

The council faded into darkness and he began walking down a corridor.  Suddenly he was grabbed from behind.

Jack wanted to fight his attacker off but they were stronger and the cloth over his mouth brought oblivion.  When he woke he was chained in a cold, dark cell and he felt terrified.

The door opened and a man walked in.  Jack recognised Duram, in his true Rucathic self not in the guise of Toshiko.  His captor bend down and began to touch him possessively the way Tosh had done with Ianto earlier.

“Pharen, so sorry about the rough treatment but those Coratics have no vision or drive.  They take the word of this stranger and now I cannot complete my work in person but you, you can make my dream possible.  You will give me my revenge.”

As darkness fell again there was pain and darkness.  Jack could tell that whatever happened next to Pharen was full of pain and misery over a decade.

He could tell he was being shielded but he knew it was partly his fault.  They had learnt of Pharen’s disappearance just before they left.

The Doctor had wanted to help but the Rucathics pleaded them to go, they had done enough damage.  They had promised to find her but Jack could tell that her captivity had been for years and the end unknown.

He was not prepared for the sudden light and human faces.  He was walking down a brightly lit corridor past labs and he was carrying something with care.

Jack realised he was in Canary Wharf the moment he saw Professor Laurence Smithson.  He had never met the man in person but he remembered staring at his picture of the mass murderer after the Object Alarm sounded, just before Ianto’s kidnapping last year.

“Professor Smithson sir,” he was speaking but it wounded him hearing his favourite voice being uncharacteristically nervous.

“Yes?”

“I was asked to deliver this to you sir, it’s a segment of the Object.”

Smithson looked down at the tray that he was carrying in his gloved hands.  He followed the scientist’s gaze at the artefact he carried.

Jack recognised the stance and sexy suited body.  He was Ianto, this was Ianto’s memory from before the battle of Canary Wharf, before Smithson’s massacre.

He looked back into the scientist’s eyes and Jack could feel Ianto’s control preventing from stepping back under the gaze.  It was full of distain and inwardly the immortal felt angry that his lover should be looked at like that.

“I can see that Archiving still persists with these childish pranks.”

“Sir?”

“I know you have only just been assigned as dogsbody on this project but there are only five segments of the Object not six.  I grant you that this does look similar to the other segments but it is definitely a fake.”

With his contemptuous words Smithson picked up the artefact from the tray Ianto had carefully put it on.  With his hands he crushed it, a white powder filled the air as the shell burst and Smithson blew it into Ianto’s face, coating his suit.

“Sugar glass and sherbet if Archiving is up to its usual standards of trickery.  Next time I suggest you read the reports on the artefacts you’re meant to be delivering before you waste anyone else’s time,” he added placing the shards back into the tray.

Smithson stalked off arrogantly and Jack stared down as Ianto’s ruined suit.  He sighed and headed back to the Archives were he filed the shards away on one of the shelves.

The scene faded away but two figures suddenly appeared Ianto and a female Rucathic.  The coloured patterns of her scales were identical to the ones his lover now possessed making her Pharen.

“Is this the only way?” she asked meekly.

“I have a friend to save and the destruction of the universe to stop.  It is the only way that I can see,” Ianto replied.

“Then I will trust you,” Pharen replied and Ianto flashed one of his lightening smiles.

Jack wanted to know more, wanted to know that this plan was that Ianto and Pharen seemed to have.  _How could they have a plan unless they talked while the Welshman was changing?_

He wondered if the infection was being stopped by his immune system faster than anticipated.  If his immortal body was speeding things up so there was no more time to enlighten him.

Jack had no time to ponder this though because as Ianto’s smile faded he woke up in the darkness tied to a chair.

 


	24. Chapter Twenty-four

Jack’s head was still reeling from the infection fuelled dream.  Things were slotting into place and he was trying to remember them before they faded too.

He was no given time to concentrate though.   The door to the secure electronics store was opening.

The wonderful face of Gwen Cooper emerged from around the frame to peek cautiously inside.  She checked the corridor again then swiftly entered, putting her finger to her lips, then walked around him and cut him free with a knife.

She was wearing a rucksack and pulled a little heater out of it and set it up on the chair he just vacated.  She then reached up to slip something over his neck.

Gwen checked the corridor and ushered him out re-locking the door behind her.  She consulted a PDA and led him deep into the archives.

They stopped after a while and she bent down to the rucksack.  She pulled Jack’s Webley and wrist strap out and handed them to him.  He could see a number of archive files peeking out of the bag.

“What is this?” Jack asked gently taking the PDA from her.  “And where did you get these?” he added indicating the discs they both now wore around their necks.

They were something Ianto had created when he was caring for Lisa.  It was designed to mask the wearer from the Hub’s security systems like an electronic perception filter.

He had made it so that when Lisa was cured they could slip out of the Hub without being seen if the route he’d used to bring her in was blocked.

Ianto told Jack about them afterwards and the Captain had been amazed by his ingenuity.  He then persuaded the Welshman to give him a practical demonstration while having sex.

Jack wondered how they had slipped Ianto’s mind when they were thinking of a way to get into Henry Parker’s house.  The answer of course was they hadn’t, the Welshman had seen that both the immortal and Owen needed the medic to prove himself so hadn’t mentioned them.

As Gwen went through her story of what happened after he’d left the Hub Weevil hunting, Jack turned his attention to the PDA.

He faced the same questions concerning the team status and what he wanted to do next and knew exactly what the PDA was doing.

The Hub had emergency systems, systems that still worked in the event of a lockdown or invasion.  After Suzie’s resurrection and second death, Ianto decided that the emergency systems also required a strategy program, something to help members of the team cope if he or Jack weren’t there. 

The idea was that it would suggest multiple scenarios of action tailored to the user.  These were formulated from the information the user supplied and what the sensors told it. 

The person using the PDA would always have the final say but how that advice and information was used was then judged by the strategy program.

If it determined that something out of character then it would shut down.  That way it couldn’t be used against the team.

It had obviously directed Gwen to the supplies she needed for his rescue.  Thanks to the heater if Tosh or any of the others checked their sensors they would find a human sized heat source in the store room while the electronic perception filter kept them hidden.

“So when the power came back on the PDA told me that it could detect your wrist strap so I went to get you but of course you weren’t wearing it.

“It then noticed a stationary heat signature amongst all the others and suggested I check it out.  I had to wait because there was a lot of activity around the store rooms were you were being held.

“I saw Tosh with those people, ordering them about.  They seemed to be herding a Lizard Man,” Gwen finished.

“That would be Ianto.”

“What?”

“Tosh’s kidnappers injected her with something to make her one of them.  She gave Ianto five more viruses and together they transformed him into a Rucathic called Pharen.”

“Can we get them back?”

“I don’t know.  We have to find Owen.”

“Well it said that his phone, PDA and Comms were all in Myfanwy’s nest.  I didn’t think he’d be there which is why I went after you.  I don’t know where he could be.”

“Before I told him to leave the medical bay I told him to find a lab and keep on working on a cure for Ianto.  He knew that either you or Tosh had betrayed us so he won’t go to any of the normal labs.

“Let’s hope he’s discovered the existence of the Emergency Science Lab and that it’s still where it was,” Jack said as he began to lead Gwen into the archives.

“Excuse me what Emergency Science Lab and what do you mean by ‘it’s still where it was’.  Are you telling me it can move?”

“The foundations of the Hub were laid down during the Victorian era.  Now while they had that unconquerable imperial attitude whoever designed the Hub had a love of engineering and gothic romance.

“Hidden in the archives are a number of Emergency Rooms, the Science Lab, a Medical Bay, a small barracks, weapons lockers that sort of thing.  As the title implies they were only meant to be used in the event of an emergency.

“They’ve been kept on a need to know basis since the cold war in case any of the team were turned.  There are clues to their existence for anyone who’s desperate to help them find them.

“The architect however added a trick to keeping the Emergency Rooms safe.  They can move around and reconfigure themselves.  Like a three dimensional version of that game where you shuffle tiles to reveal a picture.

“The idea was that if one of the team was possessed and knew about the emergency rooms then all the remaining team had to do was relocate.  The possessed team member would then have to search all the locations and hope it wasn’t moved again during the search.”

They continued in silence going deeper into the maze.  Gwen had no idea where they were going and as Jack had kept the PDA she had to trust him.

“Yes,” he said suddenly and made his way to an innocuous looking door.

Gwen was sure this wasn’t the right place.  Looking through the glass revealed row upon row of shelves the kind found everywhere in the archives.

Jack put his palm on the scanner by the door.  Nothing happened.  The immortal ignored her as she looked at him impatiently.

“Jack I want you to shoot yourself.  I want you to prove that you’re still you,” Owen’s voice came suddenly through a small speaker above the scanner.

It was an awful request he head Gwen gasp in shock that he would suggest such a thing.  Jack however felt it was a reasonable precaution.

Jack withdrew his gun and ordered Gwen to turn away.  It wasn’t as though he hadn’t shot himself before but he didn’t want his friend as an audience.

Reluctantly and after a short argument she did as she was bid.  He raised the gun to his temple.  His finger wouldn’t squeeze the trigger.

“I can’t Owen.  Ianto gave me a virus, it’s compelling me to stay alive.  I think he has a plan and the virus in me is a backup in case it doesn’t work.  If I die it will be lost and so will he.”

Jack let the gun fall.

“Well thank goodness for that.  What a stupid callous idea,” Gwen shouted angry at the suggestion and angry at herself for not protesting earlier.

The door in front of them however opened.  Owen aimed a gun at both of them and ushered them in.

Gwen stared at amazement at the lab behind the door.  She looked back and saw that what she had seen before was a cleaver photograph behind the glass.

Owen directed them into chairs and cuffed them in.  Jack obeyed without protest forcing Gwen to follow suit.

The Medic then took blood samples and headed over to his equipment.

“We don’t have time for this,” Gwen stated.

“Yes we do.  I need to know that the two of you are still who you look like and I need to know exactly what this virus is that Jack says he has.

“We need as much information as possible because we still don’t know what’s going on here,” Owen replied distracted as he was looking though a microscope.

“I know what’s going on here because it’s my fault,” Jack said quietly hanging his head in shame.


	25. Chapter Twenty-five

Captain Jack Harkness emerged from the TARDIS onto a world with a green sky.

“Wow,” Rose said in awe as she followed him out.

“Planet Rucath home of the Rucathics,” the Doctor said nodding his head at one of the lizard like humanoids with scales in colourful patterns.

“Wow,” Rose repeated her delight and admiration of their beauty written all over her face.

Jack was admiring their beauty too but in a slightly different way.  He was wondering if the patterned scales went all the way down.

“I visited here once, long ago when they were just starting to explore their planet.  Very friendly and welcoming people, very curious for reptiles.

“And these are the co-ordinates?” the Doctor asked.

“Yes they’re all programmed in here,” Jack replied indicating his wrist strap.

“The plan was that after I conned the Time Agency a few times out of some cash, I would hurt them by interfering with a few of their more covert operations.

“I wasn’t going to do anything to change the course of history or get another agent hurt but the Agency has gotten power hungry.  They had the co-ordinates of places where things could be stolen that wouldn’t hurt the time line but would increase their power.

“I don’t know what happens here, it was so need to know the computers didn’t need to know, but it was earmarked as an important operation.  I stole the co-ordinates and left a computer virus that should neatly erase them and my identity as the thief. 

“The irony of my last mission for them was that I was meant to catch myself and retrieve the co-ordinates.  I pretended that I caught the guy but the information was lost.

“I then turned con-man and my next job was to find out what it was they wanted and decide whether to leave it, keep it or sell it to them. 

“I figured that whatever _it_ is, it’s something I should tell you about,” Jack replied looking around and though expecting Time Agents to sneak out of the bushes.

“What wrong?” Rose asked the Doctor and Jack turned to look at the Time Lord’s pensive face.

“Rucath at the moment is at the height of its civilisation.  The planet is at peace, the population healthy, the education systems excellent, that poster over there indicates they launched a space mission to make friends with their nearest neighbours only last month and their technology, Psyonic based, is at its peak.”

“Oh nice,” Jack commented.

“What’s Psyonic tech?” Rose asked.

“Technology controlled by thought,” Jack answered.

“Exactly everything from cars to kitchen utensils.  Does wonders for health and safety.  There all have panic reaction protocols to prevent accidents by turning off.

“If a driver for example is tired the expensive vehicles will take them home.  With the cheap ones they pull over and stop so the driver can rest without causing an accident. 

“Like I said Rucath is at its technological height, set to take its place as one of the great civilisations in the universe.”

“So what happened?”

“No one knows.  Those astronauts I mentioned meet the neighbouring planet, Vukal had set up peaceful relations with possible trade agreements.

“However when they returned a year later it’s to find their planet gripped by a technological dark age.  There’s no mass extinction amongst the population, no signs of war, natural disaster, plagues or famine.

“Indeed heath care and farming are the most thriving industries.  Education had changed from an emphasis on science, technology and progress to studying the natural world, art and not just preserving history but returning to their past ways.

“That’s a big change in direction to have all of a sudden,” Jack commented.  “Do you think that the Time Agency may have changed their civilisation in order to steal whatever it is they want?”

Before the Time Lord could answer he suddenly clutched his chest.  He swayed alarmingly for a second then stilled.

“Did you feel that?” he demanded.  Jack shook his head.

“No, are you alright?” Rose asked.

“Sort of.  You may not have felt it but that did,” The Doctor replied indicating the flashing wrist strap.

“I’m reading a minor temporal distortion.”

“It felt more like a major one to me,” the Time Lord replied.

“Whatever caused it must be what the Time Agency was looking for.”

“Then let’s find it first,” Rose stated.

Between Jack’s wrist strap and the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver they found their way to a scientific research facility.  There they met a Rucathic called Duram who was conducting temporal experiments.

It did not take long for both Jack and the Doctor to realise the danger the experiments posed.  Duram was obsessed with changing his past and stopping his wife from murdering their son.

The danger lay not just in the disruption to the timelines but in the nature of the device itself.

Duram’s temporal manipulator wasn’t a time travel device like Jack’s wrist strap.  It used psyonic technology to influence and reshape the past.

When they tried to stop him the guards restrained the three time travellers as Duram turned on his manipulator for the first time.  The Doctor and Jack physically sagged with relief when the machine exploded, its task not done.

They were thrown out of the building but they had learnt enough to know that Duram’s research relied on the support of the Scientific Council.  If he was to get replacement parts he would have to ask them.

The Council was in session when the Doctor, Jack and Rose burst in.

“No it’s important that I speak to the Council.   If you don’t heed my warning it could mean not only the end of Rucath but the end of the universe itself,” shouted the Time Lord.

“What is the meaning of this?” one of the councillors shouted.

“Pharen is in the middle of her presentation to propose the use of viruses to pass on knowledge from one person to another.  You cannot be permitted interrupt with this... with this,” the head of the council shouted.

Jack clocked the very attractive Rucathic but she shied away from his smile.  As he turned his attention back to the council he noticed her giving him surreptitious glances.

“One of your people, Duram, is conducting dangerous experiments with time,” the Doctor stated.

“We know of his experiments.  The Temporal Visualiser is intended for educational use to give the children a glimpse of what life was like in the past.”

“He isn’t creating a Temporal Visualiser he’s creating a Temporal Manipulator.”

“I don’t understand.”

“A Temporal Manipulator allows you to change history.  He is trying to prevent his son’s murder.”

“That is a noble goal.”

“I know that but aside from the temporal paradox problems where does it end.”

“What do you mean?”

“If he uses the Manipulator to save his son then he has no reason to create the manipulator in the first place,” Jack stated.

“The more important question is does it end with saving his son.  What if there is another threat to the boy’s life, does that just get manipulated out of existence too.

“What if he decides he isn’t content with his life he can just manipulate events to make himself wealthy, good looking or have a beautiful new wife.  What if an experiment goes wrong and comes under disrepute, well he won’t like that will he, so now he can manipulate things so that it never happens?

“What if someone new and brilliant comes along with a fabulous idea that could change everything for the better?  Does Duram allow the presence of a rival or does he get rid of him and steal the idea and present it himself?

“What happens if Duram decides he doesn’t like Nerati fruit and wishes them out of existence.  There is a chemical in Nerati fruit that combats Telaric disease what happens to all those lives that were saved from Telaric because they ate Nerati?

“What if one of those lives was the man or the ancestor of the man responsible for discovering your Tolari energy.  If his life is lost or ceases to exist how much of a delay will there be before that discovery is made?  By how many centuries will your civilisation be delayed by?” the Doctor asked gently.

“What if there was a man who died because he was allergic to Nerati fruit?  What if instead of the peace you have he drove your people into war?  How many lives would be lost then?” Jack added darkly ignoring the glare the Time Lord sent his way.

“All actions have consequences.  Time can often be flexible about the little things but big things ripple across the whole universe.

“You can’t just change one thing because sometimes it means you have to change something else.  Before you know it your planet’s existence is under the dictatorship of Duram and you won’t even know it.

“If he makes one move too far the whole of causal reality unravels and the universe ends.”

“How far has he gotten?” the head of the council asked.

“He created a complete prototype manipulator but he must have made a mistake somewhere because it blew up.  When we left he was already rebuilding it.”

“Then we will take steps,” the head of the council informed them before indicating to the guard to usher them out.

It sounded too simple and it was.  The Scientific Council couldn’t just take the word of an alien stranger.

They set up two groups of investigators.  One looked into Duram’s activities and the other into the theoretical effects of Temporal Manipulation.

Knowing it would take too long the Doctor, Rose and Jack did what they could to ensure that Duram’s experiments continued to fail.

When the Scientific and Planetary Councils ordered him to cease his experiments and choose another path, Duram told them that he accepted their judgement under protest then disappeared.

They searched for him for days but couldn’t find him.  They all knew that Duram would continue his experiments in secret so the Planetary Council took the only action left open to them.

They deliberately crippled their own economy.  They made the parts of the machine unobtainable and sent their planet into the technological Dark Age the Doctor had told them about.

The Doctor never expected such action and it saddened him.  The Planetary Council reassured him that while they no longer had technology, their population wouldn’t suffer.

They fully intended in a thousand years time for their knowledge to be rediscovered thanks to Pharen’s work.  Her team were creating viruses to implant the knowledge into the race memory and when enough generations had passed their legacy would be known again.

Just as they were leaving word reached the head of security, who was escorting them to the TARDIS, that Pharen had disappeared.  It wouldn’t affect her work but it was a big concern.

The Doctor offered to stay and help find her.  The head of security told them bitterly they had helped enough.  Then he thanked them and promised that he would do everything he could to find her.

There was a subdued mood in the TARDIS as they left and Jack silently vowed not to investigate any more of these places the Time Agency was interested in.

“Alright then Jack where to next?” the Doctor asked and the ex-Time Agent knew it was a vow he wasn’t going to keep.

He gave the Time Lord the next set of co-ordinates and off they went to save the next civilisation.  The three of them did a lot of good together before they ended up on the Game Station and until then Rucath was their greatest failure.

 


	26. Chapter Twenty-six

“What does all that have to do with Ianto?” Gwen asked.

“You had some files in your bag what are they?” Jack asked rubbing his wrist now that Owen had released them.

Gwen’s blood sample was completely clean.  Jack’s didn’t contain any of the viruses only the anti-viral agent Owen had identified and it wasn’t harming any of his systems.

“They’re files Ianto put away after his kidnapping.  I figured they would include the police and medical reports.  I was hoping to find something useful in them to hold against First,” Gwen answered though her body language said that she was not going to be distracted from the answer.

“Good them maybe it’s in them,” Jack said sorting thought the files and discarding several.

“What is?” she asked but he ignored her.

At one file he stopped and slowly opened it.  Inside was the computer image of Ianto without the symbol his kidnappers had painted on him and photographs from Canary Wharf of the segments of the Object.

Jack flicked through the pictures; they were slid way from him by Owen as he looked at them then passed them to Gwen.  He looked into the Medic’s eyes and saw the same stunned look on his face.

“What are these?” Gwen asked.

“It’s the missing connection,” Owen said quietly.

“I don’t understand.”

“I knew there was something about Ianto’s kidnapping that I’d forgotten and this is it.  It happened just after the Object Alarm.  That’s what all this is about,” the Medic answered.

“The Object is a hoax and Torchwood One were too blinded by the stories to realise,” Jack said his voice held the laughter of hysteria.

“Will one of you stop being cryptic and give me a straight answer,” Gwen demanded.

“By halting their technology, the Rucathics made it impossible for Duram to finish his Temporal Manipulator.  So he did what the council did, he used Paren’s teaching viruses to pass the knowledge on.”

“The viruses in Ianto are tailored to humans, that shouldn’t be the case if they were made by an alien,’ Owen pointed out.

“Pharen conducted a medical exam on both myself and Rose to ensure that we were not in any danger from local infections.  Duram must have taken the samples when he kidnapped Pharen, perhaps he chose to use them to base the viruses on for revenge or paranoia.

“When the Planetary Council was dismantling their civilisation their priority would have been anything used in Duram’s experiments.  They had a list, he submitted it when he got funding,” Jack answered pacing up and down.

“Virus creation would have been a low priority because of their plans to plant the information in a future generation.  Another low priority would have been their space programme.

“Duram made Pharen create five viruses with part of the plans for his temporal manipulator embedded in them.  They were carried in the different segments of the Object and were to infect the humans that touched them,” Jack concluded.

“And make them do what?  The separate segments are no good on their own and why make the viruses destroy each other without the Sixth Virus?  And why is there an Anti-Virus present?” Owen asked,

“To give the victims a choice and to keep control,” Gwen answered and both men looked at her.

“You said that Pharen was there when you told the council what would happen if the Temporal Manipulator was created.  What if she listened to you too?

“Duram must have forced her to create the viruses, she might even have had Stockholm Syndrome but she could still have kept a bit conscious.

“First said they were given a choice, to join those bringing forth the creator of destruction or to deny it.  That’s what the anti-virus does it gives them a choice between being part of the Manipulator’s creation or not,” She said brushing her hair back as she gathered her thoughts to explain it to them.

“First’s group didn’t want to create the Manipulator but they couldn’t just ignore the warning, the nightmare, so they chose to protect the vessel, the one with the Sixth Virus but they still felt compulsions from their viruses so that they couldn’t directly tell us what’s going on.”

“If it’s anything like the one stopping me from killing myself it must be very limiting,” Jack said with sympathy for the impotence First’s group must feel. 

He was glad of the restriction though.  The easiest way to stop the creation of the manipulator would be to kill the one with the Sixth Virus, to kill Ianto, the compulsions ensured that wasn’t an option.

“You said that Tosh is now calling herself Duram, well First said that one of the other group created a Master Virus.  They made it so that there wouldn’t be a choice, no anti-virus, none of Pharen’s sabotage.  That’s what Tosh must have and it has Duram’s personality,” Gwen said feeling pity for her friend who had to be trapped in her own body.

“The only way they could create a virus with Duram’s personality would be if they took it from the other five viruses.

“That’s why he split the plans up.  He didn’t trust the hosts.  He couldn’t get his revenge if one of them had a more dominant personality and used his knowledge to create the manipulator for themselves,” Owen said getting excited with their conclusions.

“That means the person with the sixth virus, the one that combines all the information from the other viruses had to have a more malleable personality, one he knew he could control, Pharen’s,” Gwen said looking at the two men hoping that they would dismiss the idea as ridiculous.

“The Sixth Virus was also hidden like the Object segments and put in Fourth’s care.  He gave it to Ianto to give to Professor Smithson knowing that it would be dismissed as a fake segment of the Object because the legend says there were only five pieces,” Jack said remembering the vision and the conversation Ianto once had with Toshiko about the incident.

The Welshman was trying to give them clues.  Working against the compulsions of the virus and Torchwood One’s manipulation of his memory, he told Tosh how he got the sixth virus and left this file proving that he was painted like one of the segments.

Jack could see now the similarities between the patterns of colours on Ianto, the segments and Rucathic scales.  It was a clue he hadn’t seen.

“Fourth was trying to infect Professor Smithson with the Sixth Object but Smithson infected Ianto too.  When the Smithson Energy was emitted I think the other group tried to trigger the Sixth Virus in him, showed him the same subliminal signals that were in Tosh’s ransom video,” he continued.

“Only it went wrong.  Instead of being suppressed and overwhelmed by Pharen’s personality and physically changed by the virus it drove him mad and he killed anyone connected with the project,” Owen concluded.

“Ianto escaped death because he’s a hard worker and Torchwood One had good security.  Only First’s group realised Ianto had the virus and they watched him.

“Now the others have found him and are using Tosh to make Ianto recreate the Temporal Manipulator, the true Object,” Jack said sounding defeated.

“So how do we stop them?” Gwen asked.

 


	27. Chapter Twenty-seven

Duram was finding it increasingly frustrating watching Pharen working on the Temporal Manipulator.  Almost as frustrating as listening to the reports of his servants about why they hadn’t found the two remaining members of Torchwood, Harper and Cooper.

There were five true servants and five hired muscles how difficult was it to find two people.  Duram had to admit that this place was huge and his host didn’t know how big or exactly what was in it but that shouldn’t be an excuse.

He had turned on the base sensors and scanned for them and their communication devices.  Harpers were in with a giant lizard bird and Coopers were in a room in the archives.

Neither was detectable by the heat scan.

His servants and his host told him that Harper wouldn’t show up because he was dead.  Duram wasn’t sure how such a thing was possible but it didn’t explain why Cooper didn’t show.

He host thought she might be using some sort of alien tech or just gone to a hot place before realising that Duram could access her thoughts.  Then she clammed up making her no help in speeding Pharen’s progress.

Duram felt some envy looking at Pharen’s frame.  She was now a tall, muscular man, a physique he wanted not this small, little, woman.

Captain Jack Harkness, he would have been an ideal host.  A tall, strong man as well as perfect revenge for having been stopped by him on Rucath.

However he couldn’t be risked.  What little he’d managed to get from his host confirmed the stories his servants told of Harkness’s inability to die.

That meant that the Torchwood team would be quite willing to shoot Harkness if it meant the end of Duram.  With Harper being with walking dead it meant his virus had nothing to take hold of there.

So that left the two women.  They had chosen Sato because she was closer to Jones.  She also had the scientific knowledge to make him look less suspicious when running medical tests on the transforming Pharen.

Of course Cooper had made taking it slowly and stealthy impossible.  That damn blood sample, she’d put it somewhere and his host wasn’t giving him any clues as to where, assuming she hadn’t already given it to Harper.

That meant he had to act swiftly.  It was fortunate that Harper chose to focus on Jones’ condition and that Harkness went out leaving him the opportunity to inject the five viruses and let his minions in.

The skittering sound of equipment falling made Duram look at Pharen again.  Her hands shook slightly and one of the servants stood practically hovering over her.

They were good muscle but they had lost their subtly.  They also kept forgetting that they had made him to take charge so Duram dismissed them, telling them to increase the perimeter guard around them.

He surmised that the heat was probably affecting them.

He hadn’t considered that making Pharen Rucathic meant increasing the temperature of the Hub so her hands didn’t shake with cold.  It was so hot that Duram was beginning to sweat uncomfortably.

That was his mistake.  Duram had demanded that there be a physical transformation in the Sixth Virus because it would make Pharen feel isolated amongst the humans.  It would therefore give his attentions more impact.

Pharen needed careful handling, coaxing, the right incentives and bedding to let her know who was in charge.  That wasn’t the Rucathic way of course which is why it was so effective.

He couldn’t do that right now though.  With their genders reversed he lacked the essential dominance and risked displaying the vulnerabilities he had used in her.

Of course he could have gotten one of his servants to do it but that would have meant relinquishing some control to him instead and that wouldn’t do either.

It was going to be the first thing he changed when his manipulator was working.  He was going to ensure this female got the sixth virus and have them make him the male instead.

The fact that she had a job to do meant that Duram didn’t need to bed her right now.  She knew well how angry he got when things were delayed.

Forceful kisses and the right touches to the right areas of her surprisingly cool skin was all it took to calm her and reassert control.  She just didn’t want to feel bullied and needed a little reassurance.

It was disconcerting seeing a male physique beneath Pharen’s scales.  She had never been as beautiful as his wife but she’d had loyalty and had been a good mother.

It had taken years for Pharen to perfect her viruses and to give Duram exactly what he needed.  She had given him two sons and a third child had been waiting to hatch when it was finally completed.

“Don’t let them frighten you,” Duram said gently before kissing her brutally and touching her intimately.

“We’re all just anxious for the manipulator to work, to get our sons back.  You do want to get our children back don’t you?”

“Of course Duram,” she replied meekly, submitting to him.

He was careful not to go too far.  He wanted her to relax and work hard not draw him into heat.

“Then ignore them and keep working, for me.”

“Yes Duram,” she replied trembling slightly as his fingers left her body and he turned her back to her work.

_Yes that’s another thing I will change.  I will make Pharen beautiful then she can be the wife I deserve, attractive, loyal and submissive._

_When I’m that male I will get her to transform me into a Rucathic too.  Perhaps she can give me more children, perhaps hybrids or should I complete the transformation to make us of true blood again._

Pharen had insisted that a complete transformation was impossible if he wanted the manipulator made quickly.  That was why he was trying not to be repulsed by a male, instead of intimidating a female.

_Yes I will switch us around then make us true Rucathics.  I will change the sun and our orbit so that this planet becomes warmer for us._

_I will make this planet the New Rucath and I shall rule it.  I don’t need those pathetic lizards I left behind.  I will change some of these humans into hybrids like Pharen so that they can be slaves and make true Rucathics of some of the females, why limit myself to one wife._

_That will avenge me against those interferers.  They sent my planet into the dark ages so I will take theirs._

It wasn’t something he’d thought about before the strangers who came to interfere.  He’d just wanted his son back now he was seriously contemplating the fact that one planet wasn’t that many to rule.

Duram looked away from Pharen towards the Rift Manipulator.  His host had tried to make him ignore it but he had gotten her passwords before he made his presence felt.

He was sitting on a Rift in Space and Time.  None of them knew all the places it touched, all the places his manipulator would be able to influence with the power for the Rift behind it.

_Universal domination, I am getting ambitious._

He just had to wait for Pharen to finish.

 

 

 


	28. Chapter Twenty-eight

Jack left Owen working on a cure for Ianto and Tosh while Gwen followed him back to the main Hub.  He had wanted her to stay behind but she had stubbornly insisted on coming.

They followed the directions of Ianto’s PDA once Jack had reprogrammed it.  This was going to be difficult as he could see ten people dotted around the central area of the Hub.

He was uncertain whether Gwen’s presence was a good or bad thing.  If the compulsion in the anti-virus prevented him from doing what he must then he would have to ask her, and Jack wasn’t sure she could do it.

Pharen could not be allowed to complete the Temporal Manipulator.  It was far too dangerous to exist.  If stopping its creation meant killing Ianto and Tosh then it had to be done.

It was no wonder anymore to Jack that legend had called the Manipulator only the Object; why it was said that to know what it was, was to desire it beyond the destruction of your soul.

As a Time Agent he had been thoroughly schooled on Temporal Paradoxes and how to avoid causing them.  Ironically Jack had learnt more from the Doctor and begun to understand the responsibilities of time travel.

So why couldn’t he stop thinking about using the Manipulator.

Part of him hoped that he would get there once the Manipulator was complete.  Jack wanted to use it to get Ianto back to his human self, he wanted it in case they did have to kill him so that he could make him alive again.

Before Ianto had brought love and understanding into his life Jack would have wanted it to end his immortality.  Part of him now had even contemplated making Ianto immortal with it despite knowing what a curse it was to be unable to stay dead.

Jack wished he had never been left behind on the Game Station.  Wished he hadn’t followed only to end up being over a hundred years to early with no wrist strap to shorten the wait.

He wished he’d never been found by Alice and Emily.  He wished that he hadn’t had to live through two world wars and a hundred other horrors in between.

Jack wished he could use it to prevent Professor Yana from becoming the Master.  He wished he never experienced his year of hell on the ‘Valliant’ despite it being the reason he accepted that his feelings for Ianto were stronger than he thought.  He wished he had never chased after the Doctor in the first place.

He wished there was no Rift in Cardiff and no need for Torchwood.

Jack wished he’d never disrupted Gwen’s life.  That she could have the excitement from Torchwood she craved without her attraction to him spoiling her relationship with Rhys.  Wished he hadn’t insisted on the secrecy which had proved to be as damaging as it was unnecessary.

He wanted Owen to be alive.  Wanted Copley’s gun to jam and for the medic to be living and enjoying all the things he could no longer do.

Jack wanted the terrorist group that had kidnapped her mother to never have heard of Toshiko Sato or the sonic modulator.  He wished her potential had been seen by someone else, that she could shine under less trying circumstances.

Most of all he wanted Ianto to have never gotten a job at Torchwood London.  He wanted their paths to cross when his lover was young and untouched by tragedy.

Jack wanted to take Ianto away from the hurts of the universe and not be so damaged himself that he was unable to return the love given so freely to him.  He wanted to travel with his Welshman so that he would only know wonderful and happy things like what Rose and Martha had with the Doctor.

It was a slippery slope knowing you could have whatever you want.  All those things would cause such a huge paradox they could destroy the space time continuum but perhaps he could do little things.

Perhaps he could stop Owen from dying and have Tommy fall through the rift between his recovery at St Teilo’s and the front for Tosh.  He could make sure Gwen’s upcoming wedding was perfect and ensure that Ianto never contracted the sixth virus.

What would be so bad about that?

Why couldn’t Owen get his life back?  Why couldn’t Tosh have love?  Why couldn’t Gwen have a wonderful, special day?  Why did Ianto have to go through this ordeal of being possessed and turned into a lizard?

He could hear the Doctor’s warnings in his head.  Hear the Time Lord’s speech about how it could never be just one little thing and how you never know which of those little things could unravel time and destroy the universe.

As they got nearer to the main Hub Jack couldn’t stop the growing certainty that the only way to reverse what had happened to Ianto was to use the Manipulator. 

He knew Owen was brilliant but how long would it take to reverse what the virus had done?  When it came to viruses that altered the DNA Pharen was millennia ahead of them.

They reached the perimeter of guards and paused to watch their movements. 

Jack knew Ianto was unlikely to be in danger given his importance in recreating the Manipulator.  If they thought they were under attack those guards would soon be swarming all over them.

It was as he was watching and deciding that something Ianto had said drifted into his mind.  It was from while the Welshman was on suspension after the Cyberman incident.

_“It may sound hypocritical but I wouldn’t want any lover to destroy the world for me.  I think I have forfeited that right._

_“I wouldn’t object to being fought for, I would do the same.  I not sure I can guarantee given past evidence that I would not be willing to sacrifice the world for love.  I don’t think I could bare anyone destroying the world for me._

_“Falling in love, Canary Wharf, losing Lisa they are landmark events in my life.  They changed me, are changing me into what I am not ready to know._

_“Knowing a lover would destroy the world for me would change me too I think, change how I feel.  How would I feel if someone tender to me could be so merciless to others._

_“That’s how I know she wasn’t Lisa.  She would not have killed.  Wouldn’t have thought the world needed upgrading.”_

The words lanced though Jack like the accusation of betrayal they were.  He knew the dangers of using the Manipulator but he couldn’t stop thinking about it.

_I’m sorry Ianto but I’m not ready to lose you.  All the good things you have brought into my life, they’re worth risking the universe for._

Jack felt his resolve harden.  He was going to stop these men, stop Duram and if he had to he would use the Temporal Manipulator to ensure he got Ianto and Tosh back.

He turned to Gwen and began to outline the plan.


	29. Chapter Twenty-nine

Gwen Cooper listened as Jack outlined his plan and felt that there was something wrong.  She could tell that he was holding something back but she couldn’t understand what or why.

She knew the immortal had secrets but if there was one thing Gwen had absolute faith in, it was that Jack would move heaven and earth if it could save a member of his team, especially Ianto.

Which was why the thought that he was keeping something from her was so disturbing.  In a rescue situation having all the information was vital both to those being rescued and to the rescuers themselves.

The only reason she could think of was that it had something to do with the Object, with this Temporal Manipulator.

Gwen didn’t really understand the Temporal Manipulator.  It seemed too fantastic to have a device that made all your desires come true by rewriting the past.

It seemed like the kind of device that had a huge price tag attached.  If First’s group was to be believed, that price tag was the end of the Universe.

Gwen could think of a number of mistakes made in her life, a number of things she had wished she could undo but you didn’t just ask a mystery object to make them go away.

When you make a mistake you try your best to fix it.  You try to repair the damage you have done as best you could and try not to do it again in the future.

Sometimes with the really huge mistakes that wasn’t possible, those mistakes that cost people their lives.  With those you just had to accept the guilt and try to do better for others.

No, mistakes were part of life, part of growth and sometimes if you were lucky they brought good things as well as bad.  They brought experience so that you knew how to handle the next situation.

Her memories of Carys entered Gwen’s mind.  One miss-throw, an accident she caused, had turned an innocent girl into a sex obsessed murderer.

She remembered as they raided the fertility clinic counting each pile of dust and adding it to the deaths she was responsible for.  In the end offering herself as a sacrifice in Carys’ place was the only thing she could do to absolve herself.

Jack had saved her of course, not just from the sex gas but from her doubts that she wasn’t strong enough or capable enough to be in Torchwood.

Letting her take care of Carys, letting her prove that she was making a difference to the way the team did things helped her realise she did have a place in Torchwood, even if some of the didn’t realise if yet.

Her greatest mistake of course, one that couldn’t be called an accident was her affair with Owen.  That betray of Rhys, for which she hadn’t been given forgiveness, was the thing she most often wished she could take back.

Yet think about it, with the Manipulator able to give her the choice, Gwen wouldn’t take it back.  She had needed someone then and Torchwood’s secrecy hadn’t let that someone be Rhys.

Gwen had turned to Owen partly because of the lust that had built up between them while out in the Beacons and partly because in her heart she knew Jack was a worse mistake.

If she had told Rhys without Jack’s approval he would have given her the same disbelieving arguments and demand proof the same way he had when he did find out.

Only back then Jack would never have allowed her boyfriend into the base so Rhys would have thought she was mad or the immortal would have Retconned the knowledge from him, perhaps from both of them.

Something though had changed Jack while he’d been away.  He didn’t talk about it but he’d softened.  He was no longer a hard man demanding their absolute loyalty with no answers.

The space whale incident was proof enough of that.  Not only with letting Rhys keep his memory but his desire to save the alien.

Yes, Jack would have been a betrayal she couldn’t live with.  Not just back then but now too.

Then she would have wanted to leave Rhys for her boss and wouldn’t have been able to handle the possibility that he didn’t want her that way.  While with Owen she could have her affair and felt no need to leave the man she truly loved.

She wondered how Ianto had been able to live with that.  How he’d been able to handle knowing that he was just a temporary comfort.

That wasn’t the case so much now of course.  Gwen hated to admit it to herself but that was another thing that had changed about Jack.

When they had first met Torchwood was just something Jack did to pass the time.  Since he returned from where he’d disappeared to it had become his vocation.

His relationship with Ianto had also changed.  It was not longer about the secret need for sex but about a more open desire for something more.

Gwen suddenly realised what was wrong with Jack’s plan.  It wasn’t the orders it was his demeanour.

He wasn’t the Jack she had gotten used to in recent months, the man who smiled more with a genuine light in his eyes, the man whose eyes followed Ianto dreamily whenever he switched off from whatever you were saying.

This was the Jack she’d first known, the one who had a hard impenetrable shell, the one whose eyes rarely showed his heart.

_He’s given up.  He doesn’t think we can get Tosh and Ianto back.  He’s thinking about the dangers of the manipulator and how we have to destroy it before it can be used._

_He’s thinking that he may have to kill them to stop it and if he does I don’t think he will stay.  I’m not sure I’d want him to._

_No, I will not let them die.  If we have to lock them up in the cells for the next thirty years we will find a way to reverse this._

_If Owen can’t do it by himself we’ll call in Martha.  She and UNIT are bound to have other resources that could help._

_He’s also forgetting the anti-virus inside him.  Jack told Owen that he thought it was Ianto’s back up plan that means it might have a way to save them._

Gwen listened carefully to Jack’s plan uncertain what she could do to stop her friend from making a very big mistake.

 


	30. Chapter Thirty

The noise made Pharen turn, her head moved continuously between the two sides of the Hub that it appeared to come from.

“Get back to your work,” snarled Duram ferociously.

The manipulator was almost finished he could feel it.  So close to completion the last thing Pharen needed was a distraction.

Duram dispatched his men to head towards the two sources of noise.  It had to be Harper and Cooper trying to rescue their friends.

He laughed as their pathetic loyalty.  There was no way he was giving up his host unless it was to become a man.  There was also no way they could get back Pharen’s host either.

What were two people against ten armed men?  They might not be competent at hide and seek but he was sure they were capable of killing the woman and disabling the walking corpse.

Beside him Pharen was twitching nervously.  She really was a pathetic little thing.  If he didn’t need her so much right now he would consider snapping her neck.

“Ignore it, my men are dealing with them,” Duram crooned softly adding a controlling kiss and possessive touch to focus her.  “Our children are so close.”

She nodded and turned to the Manipulator again.  When Duram turned back he realised that he couldn’t see any of his men.

He groaned, _why do such fools have to be drawn to me_ , Duram thought ignoring the fact that his five servants were mostly dominated by his own personality and need for revenge.

Duram headed for the armoury.  It didn’t hurt to be prepared and he would also have a handy means of disposing of Pharen if she irritated him one more time.

Only the armour door was sealed and Toshiko’s codes weren’t working.  Duram tried to delve into his host’s mind for an answer and found a mental brick wall keeping him out.

He didn’t have time to play mind games with her.  Duram did a quick scout around and soon found a gun that hadn’t been put away because of Ianto’s incapacity.

The Rucathic returned to his victim’s side.  He kept his eyes on the open area around him rather than on her.

 

Jack knew that he had an advantage over Duram in that, even if the Rucathic could tap into Toshiko’s knowledge, he still wouldn’t know the Hub as well as the Captain.

The only person who had as much if not greater knowledge of the Hub’s hidden places and quirks was Ianto.  Even if Pharen was able to access that knowledge, again Jack had the advantage in that Duram was unlikely to ask her about it.

All Duram cared about was the creation of the manipulator.  Jack watched Toshiko kiss and caress the reptilian that had once been his lover with a twist of envious anger.

Soon it wouldn’t matter.  Between what he could see and what his wrist strap told him he knew the manipulator was nearly complete.

In a matter of minutes Ianto would never have to go through this ordeal.  He would never have anyone but Jack touch him ever again.

He waited for the sound charges to go off.  Gwen had placed them in two different areas hoping to draw the goons away.

She would then spring the trap.  It was a plan that got both Duram’s men and Gwen out of his way while he went after the Manipulator.

Soon enough they ran off after the noise not knowing there was this other way to enter, it had been unguarded the whole time but Jack didn’t want to risk Ianto or the Manipulator getting caught in the crossfire.

Jack recognised the gun Duram picked up as one of those designed for Owen that was loaded with paralysing agent.  Not fatal but it would put him out of action if he was hit.

With that in mind picked his moment to reveal himself.

 

Gwen Cooper knew exactly what Jack’s plan was about.  It not only got rid of the people guarding Tosh and Ianto but it stopped her from helping.

It was fortunate that Jack had had to give Gwen Ianto’s PDA in order for her to carry out her part of the plan.  He was hoping that she’d think she needed to be in the line of sight in order to know when to spring the trap and slam the hidden walls into place.

Gwen however had spent quite a bit of time with Ianto’s PDA, while not as omniscient as its owner it was as helpful and user friendly.

Which was why Gwen was nowhere near where the servants and hired thugs of Duram were.  She was secreted by another hidden entrance to the main Hub waiting for Jack to make his move.

Gwen watched the way Toshiko kissed and touched Ianto with surprise.  It was the only proof she needed to know that at this moment they were no longer her friends.

She also recognised the paralyser gun that Duram carried.  At least that meant that they were unlikely to die but it could make them vulnerable at the crucial moment.

Gwen had no wrist strap to tell her how close Pharen was getting to completing the device.  She could however observe the nervous excitement building in Tosh in a most un-Tosh fashion.

Now was the time for a last distraction.  Now was the moment to give Jack the opportunity he needed to stop the manipulator being created and hope that he wouldn’t kill their friends in the process.

“Duram,” Gwen called out and revealed herself.

Tosh swung towards her and then back as Jack revealed himself.

“It’s over Duram we can’t let you complete the manipulator,” Gwen said firmly.

A new hum suddenly filled the air.

“You’re too late it is already complete.”


	31. Chapter Thirty-one

Duram turned to Pharen and knocked her from her seat.  Jack tried to squeeze the trigger of his Webley but the anti-virus was compelling him not to.

“Don’t move,” Gwen ordered firing a shot in Duram’s direction.

The Rucathic reacted instantly firing a paralysing dart into Gwen, she froze in place.  Duram turned to Jack but seeing that he was unable to shoot, dismissed him as a threat with a smirk.

Duram turned back to the Manipulator stepping over Pharen’s cringing body.

Suddenly the pitch of the hum changed.  Duram pulled his hand back just in time as the Manipulator exploded.

“No.  You stupid bitch what did you do wrong?” Duram demanded.

“Nothing,” was the reply but there was no pleading or begging in it.

“Of course you did something wrong or it wouldn’t have blown up.”

“Actually is blew up because it works perfectly,” the Lizard man replied standing in a way that looked to Jack an awful lot like the way Ianto stood.

“What?”

“I had to make it, your compulsion prevented me from doing otherwise but you didn’t think to stop me from being able to use it too.”

“No,” Jack whispered fearful of the consequences of using the Manipulator now that the temptation was no longer there.

“I used the Object in the only way it could ever possibly be used safely, to destroy any version of it ever made at the point of completion and then to destroy itself.  With the access to the Rift you insisted on, I ensured my wish was carried throughout all of time.

“Ironic really you had to have Pharen create the viruses because your first prototype didn’t work and you were prevented from making another.  Your prototypes didn’t work because I, a victim of Pharen’s viruses, made sure they couldn’t,” Ianto smiled in that mild way of his then shrugged and continued.

“That isn’t all.  The energy released from the destruction of the Object will simulate the anti-virus in your servants systems.  They’ll all be unconscious now as your influence dies in them and they become themselves,” Ianto told Duram calmly.

Jack just stared at him.  He felt a swell of emotion for a man much stronger than himself.  A man with the greatest of temptations in his hands and hadn’t used it for himself.

“No you can’t.  Pharen after everything, our children,” Duram tried appealing, his female fingers touching Ianto in a way that made Jack’s rage boil.

Ianto calmly grabbed hold of her hands and gently moved them away from him.  Jack watched his expression change and knew it would be Pharen who next spoke.

“You kidnapped me Duram, raped me, forced me to make your viruses to carry out your mad plan.  My children were the only good in my life and I wouldn’t take them from the real me, not for you.”

Duram pulled himself out of Ianto’s grip.

“You think you’ve won but you won’t be getting this one back.  I don’t have your anti-virus in me.  You aren’t getting Toshiko Sato back.”

“No you didn’t,” Ianto replied glancing at Jack with a look hoping for forgiveness.

In that moment Jack realised that Pharen had never been alone as she worked for Duram.  Ianto had been there the whole time being touched, being kissed... being kissed.

“Did you know that human blood tastes even more disgusting when you’re a reptile than it does when you’re human?  Thanks to Gwen when I looked in the Autopsy bay fridge I found not only one of the routine blood samples Owen had taken but one with your virus in it.”

“What do you mean?”

“When I made the sixth virus I didn’t just give it my personality I gave it my knowledge.  Ianto convinced me that while it was transforming him into a Rucathic we could use his body to create an anti-virus that could kill you,” Pharen said no longer meek and mild mannered, her voice had a little Welsh steel.

“You know I didn’t really have to drink the blood.  I wasn’t expecting you to give me so many opportunities to take samples of your virus or opportunities to deliver the anti-virus to you,” Ianto said with mild disgust.

Duram gave Ianto/Pharen a confused look that said he was going to ask what they were talking about.  In response the Welsh Rucathic brushed his fingers across his lips.

The mad Rucathic mirrored the gesture and light dawned in his eyes.  When Ianto next glanced at Jack, the immortal gave him the look of forgiveness and admiration he was hoping for.

The kisses Duram and Ianto/Pharen had shared were a betrayal but not of Jack, they were a betrayal of Duram.  Just as they had kissed the immortal to let him know what he needed, they had kissed their captor to rid him of his hold on Tosh.

“Toshiko Sato it’s time for you to kick his arse,” Ianto ordered.

A defiant look crossed Duram’s face but only for a second.  It turned to one of surprise in the few seconds it took for him to pass out.

Ianto/Pharen crossed to her.  They examined Toshiko with a doctor’s professionalism.  Jack joined them unsure what to do to help or what to ask about getting Ianto back to his normal self now that the manipulator was gone.

The Welsh Rucathic turned to Jack and smiled in a way that said everything was going to be alright.

Then his eyes rolled and Jack caught the reptilian man as he entered unconsciousness.

 

 


	32. Chapter Thirty-Two

Jack gently laid Ianto on the floor and summoned Owen.  He checked to make sure that Toshiko and Gwen were as alive as the Welshman before restoring his control of the Hub.

He waited for the medic to arrive and assess each of their colleagues.  Jack then helped Owen get them to the medical bay, Ianto first then Tosh then Gwen.

Needing something to do while Owen worked, he checked on First he found her alive but unconscious, she was showing signs that she had an infection that her body was fighting.  It was the same with five of the knocked out intruders.

Jack locked all of them in the cells, told Owen to check on them when he had time before making sure the base was secure.  He then examined the manipulator, Ianto’s explosion had done a thorough job of destroying it.

With it cleared away into the incinerator, just in case, Jack headed down to the medical bay.  He hovered by the door until Owen signalled that it was okay for him to come and sit by Ianto’s side.

“Gwen should be back with us in about an hour I’ve given her something to speed up her recovery.  The virus they gave Tosh is a bastard. 

“I can see elements of the five viruses that were in Ianto combined with a number of terrestrial viruses.  There is however also one of those anti-viruses although it’s different from the ones I’ve seen in the others and you but it’s working fast,” Owen informed him as he brushed a stray strand of hair from her face. 

“Ianto said that Pharen used him as a biochem lab to create an anti-virus to combat the one in Tosh.  Duram liked to kiss Pharen to control her that’s how they delivered it,” Jack said his voice held a hint of pride.

“That’s good because I have no idea how long it would have taken me to come up with a counter agent.  I checked her brainwaves and there is quite a battle going on in her mind but I think our Tosh is winning.”

“What about Ianto?”

“The super-virus and the antivirus as still very much active in him.  From what the deep tissue scanner can show me I think it’s the super-virus which is reversing what’s been done to him.

“They’re working slower than they did when they changed him.  I think they are trying to minimise any further damage.  I don’t know how long it will take.”

“Just do what you can Owen.”

Jack sat by Ianto’s side as Owen worked.  As predicted, Gwen came out of her paralysis fifty minutes later.

When the medic cleared her to leave she headed for the cells.  She interviewed the five hired thugs, retconned them and got Rhys to help her dump them somewhere.

The next day First recovered.  All Owen’s tests confirmed she was free of both the virus and that the anti-virus had become dormant.

She told them her name was Karen Bailey and she confessed to the murder of the mugger when her group had kidnapped Ianto last year.  Karen told them that she’s once dated a Torchwood One scientist, who had been working on the Object project; that was how she had gotten the virus.

She’d met Ianto at a party and realised he carried the Sixth virus.  From that moment on, Karen had become obsessed with protecting him and her relationship with the scientist had broken off.

Jack agreed with her request that she be allowed to keep her memories and confess to the crime.  She understood the need to keep Torchwood secret and hoped Ianto would recover.

The only thing she refused to tell them was the identity of the other four people who were watching Ianto.  None of them accepted her reassurance that they had no need to worry about them anymore.

Gwen took her away into Andy’s care.  Karen told the police where to find the gun.  She was able to tell them most of the truth about stalking Ianto and shooting the mugger because he was in danger.

Duram’s servants recovered five hours after Karen entered police custody.  They were all unhappy to know they had been defeated because they had wanted to have the power of the Object.

Again Gwen interviewed and Retconned them and got Rhys to help her dump them somewhere.

After two and a half days of unconsciousness Toshiko woke up.  Owen subjected her to all the tests he could think of before declaring that it really was her and put her on medical leave, Gwen drove her home.

The whole time Jack didn’t leave Ianto’s side except for calls of nature or to help deal with alerts from the Rift.  The only sign of change he had was the rising of the reptillian’s body temperature.

A few hours after Toshiko was sent home he got his second sign.  Jack was stroking the scales of Ianto’s scalp when they began to flake away.

The flaking was caused by hair growing on the Welshman’s head.  Under Owen’s direction Jack carefully began to peel away loose scales to reveal pink human skin beneath.

“Why isn’t he waking up?” Jack asked an hour later.

“His body had undergone a massive ordeal.  Not only has it had to fight off multiple viruses but it’s undergone a transformation twice.

“His body’s resources have been drained I’m feeding him what I can but his systems are exhausted.  To be honest, given everything, I’m a little amazed he’s still with us.”

“He’s a survivor.”

“True.  You also have to consider the mental implications.  Like Tosh, Ianto had another personality in his head. 

“However he was also given knowledge.  What happened to Duram’s instructions on how to build the manipulator or Pharen’s knowledge of genetic manipulation?”

“That’s a good point.  I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”

“There’s also something else,” Owen said cautiously.

He beckoned Jack over to the monitors where he brought up a magnification of two cells.  He didn’t have a clue what they were and gave a look to Owen that told him so.

“I found these in the blood samples I took when you called me from the Emergency Lab.  They have also been in every sample I’ve taken since then.”

“So they were made by the virus not the anti-virus.”

“Not directly no.  The anti-virus has become dormant and I cannot find any traces of any of the other viruses remaining.

“I tested these cells and they work just like white blood cells but they’re not human their alien, Rucathic I’d say given recent events.  They also contain Ianto’s DNA.”

“What are you saying?”

“I think Pharen had left Ianto with a parting gift, an alien immune system, one that his body not just tolerates but actively produces.  It’s not a replacement it’s an addition to his human one.

“I will run tests in a couple of weeks to confirm but I think our equipment might find a slight change in his DNA profile where it’s been altered.”

“What will that mean?”

“I don’t know.”

 


	33. Chapter Thirty-three

Toshiko thanked Gwen for the lift and politely refused her offer to stay over or to go to the other woman’s flat.  She hurried into the home she abandoned a few days ago, wanting to be alone.

All the way back Gwen had been telling her everything that happened.  An endless commentary on what Duram and the team did.

As she pulled up, she had offered sympathy, comparing being paralysed by the dart to being a backseat driver in your own body.  Tosh let her have that illusion.

Being controlled by Duram hasn’t been like that at all. 

She had been injected with his virus while unconscious and had no idea at first that he was even there.  The Technical Genius had felt normal relief when she was rescued and genuine concern that Ianto had fallen ill.  Tosh had run the tests for Owen just as she would normally so that she could help.

Except that she’d become obsessed by the blood sample Gwen had taken.  She wanted to know what the Welshwoman had done with it but didn’t want to ask

Then there was Ianto’s second set of test results, they filled her with excitement yet they shouldn’t have meant anything to her beyond the need for more testing.  She realised later that, to Duram, it meant Ianto was ready.

It wasn’t until she got the syringes of the five viruses, which she didn’t know she was carrying, and injected them into Ianto that she realised something was wrong.  Only then did she realise she’d become a passenger in her own body.

Toshiko headed straight to the bathroom.  She stripped off everything except the jewellery with the tracking devices and got in the shower.

She used her comfort shower gel that smelt like mangoes and her comfort shampoo and conditioner that smelt like peaches, a reminder that she had friends who cared for her.

Tosh always kept a supply since the night they returned from the Brecon Beacons.  Ianto and Jack stayed over that night to keep each other company, get through the trauma of what they had experienced before returning to Torchwood.

After Mary, Toshiko had begun to develop her friendship with Ianto properly.  After an ordeal like this part of her expected him to be there to reassure and look after her like he had when she lost Tommy.

Only Ianto couldn’t be on the other side of the bathroom door tonight.  He was unconscious in the medical bay, covered in scales and she’d been the one to do that to him.

As she let the scents comfort her and water wash her Toshiko couldn’t help remembering how she’d treated Ianto.  It felt wrong to be that arrogant, to treat her sometimes unappreciated friend like a piece of meat.

It wasn’t just the forced kisses and touching him.  It was all his desires and plans both sexual and for domination.  They made her feel violated despite the fact that she’d been the one carrying out those acts.  All Ianto had done was return the kisses.

Her friend’s deception made her smile.  Everyone underestimated Ianto and when he called her name and told her to kick arse, she’d known she could do it.

Tosh got out of the shower and dressed herself.  She wandered into the lounge then the kitchen but despite her hunger she had no appetite for food or for a film.

She forced herself to eat something while watching a documentary.  What Tosh really wanted was to eat ice cream and watch ‘Friends’ but Ianto wasn’t there to join her and discuss favourite plotlines with.

Toshiko decided to get to sleep early but it wouldn’t come.  Living alone she should be used to an empty bed, but Ianto always stayed with her when she was upset, just as she did when Jack left, and having no one beside her tonight felt wrong.

Despite it being gone two in the morning Toshiko got up and dressed and headed for the Hub.  She wouldn’t be able to rest, not while Ianto was still unconscious because of her.

Jack said nothing as Toshiko entered the medical bay only indicated for her to get herself a chair.  She sat down and smiled as she realised Ianto no longer had scales on his face.

Tosh looked up at Jack but he was now staring intently at Ianto.  She sighed heavily wondering if she should go, she’d done this she had no right to stay.

“This isn’t your fault,” Jack said quietly.

“It feels like it is and nothing you can say will stop me feeling like I was the one that did this,” she replied.

“I was going to shoot you,” Jack whispered quietly.

“What?”

“When he finished the manipulator I was going to shoot you.  It was too dangerous to let Duram use.  I was going to kill you and then use the manipulator to bring you back,” he said not looking at her.

“Why didn’t you?” Tosh asked no accusation in her voice.

“Ianto kissed me too, when I was tied up in the storeroom.  He gave me an anti-virus to explain things and it left behind a compulsion.

“He knew what I would do.  He knew that I would want to capture the manipulator and use it to free him and you despite knowing how dangerous it was.

“Ianto made sure I couldn’t kill you because his plan to save you was already in motion.  It cost him, but now I won’t be responsible for the potential destruction of the universe,” Jack said a hint of despair in his voice.

A heavy silence fell between then as Toshiko absorbed what he was trying to tell her.  The guilt he felt knowing he had thought of sacrificing her, only to have Ianto save them both.

“He was going to turn the Human race into Rucathics.  He was going to change things so that he could be in Ianto and Pharen could be in me.  Then he was going to get his revenge by changing everyone into Rucathics and ruling the universe through the Rift.

“If Ianto hadn’t had a plan then shooting me would probably have been for the best,” Toshiko said trying to sound reassuring.

“That doesn’t make me feel any better.”

“Just like knowing I wasn’t in control isn’t making me feel any better,” she told him softly.

They exchanged smiles with no heart in them.  As one they turned to the only person who could make them both feel better and willed him to wake up.

 


	34. Chapter Thirty-four

The day after he told Jack about Ianto’s new immune system Owen went to court, despite the fact that Ianto still hadn’t woken up, to testify at Karen Bailey’s trial. 

He left the Welshman in Toshiko’s care, knowing that she couldn’t be used in the field right now and needed to do something to help.  Jack had agreed and Owen knew that if there were any serious changes in his patient, which he doubted, they would call him.

He was giving medical evidence regarding Ianto’s condition after his kidnapping.  He was also taking the opportunity to see if he could spot any of First’s fellow stalkers.

There was one face in the crowd that he recognised.  It was a shock to see him but as soon as he saw it he knew he was looking at Third.

Owen lost him in the crowd during a recess but that didn’t matter, he knew exactly where to find him.  When Ianto didn’t wake the next day he decided to go out and look for him.

He waited on a bench near Cardiff University.  Soon enough a young man came and sat down next to him.

“I kind of expected you sooner.”

“Well Jack insisted that only Gwen read the journals so I got the diluted version.  I should have known though.  When I last saw you Evan you were prime stalker material.”

“I didn’t intend to,” Evan replied unconvincingly.  “I just wanted to see that he was alright for myself and then I realised you’d got it all wrong about my Mistress.”

“Wrong how?”

“Her name wasn’t Claudia and she wasn’t dead.  My Mistress was Suzie Costello.”

Part of Owen didn’t want to believe him but part of him knew he spoke the truth.  He could see it now and wondered how he’d gotten it wrong.

About a month after Ianto joined Torchwood, he had been attacked in the Hub by an alien that spewed him with a slime that gave him amnesia and he was kept knocked out for several days. 

There was no mystery in that as they had all witnessed it, only Ianto had left Owen with a blood sample with the name Evan and the date of the attack on it for the Medic to test.

The blood sample contained alien drugs that could only have come from Torchwood’s One or Three, which induced suggestibility and intense sexual arousal.  The doses were extremely worrying and he could no longer ask the man who collected the sample where it had come from.

The only clue left was in Ianto’s phone, as Owen assumed that he would have insured ‘Evan’ was looked after.  That led the medic to the young man sitting next to him.

Owen learnt that what had started out as a normal Dom/Sub relationship had ended in abuse.  Evan’s ‘Mistress’ lost control of her violent need to inflict pain and began to pump him full of mind control drugs during their sexual encounters.

It was evident that Evan had then been given the drug to arouse him sexually and was deliberately set on Ianto.  Only the boy knew and trusted the archivist from childhood. Realising who it was destroyed the drug’s hold on him but left a strong, erotic, hero worship.

All Evan had was an overheard first name, Claudia.  Owen assumed he was talking about an ex-Torchwood One employee who met Ianto briefly on the day of the attack and killed herself the next.

Now that Evan had said it was Suzie that made more sense.  His former colleague had had a grudge against Ianto when he first started and it only cooled after the slime attack.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Owen asked.  The Medic had kept in touch at first to help supervise Evan’s recovery now that Ianto could no longer remember his plight.

“Because I saw you with her, saw how you were with her,” Evan replied, and the Medic felt ashamed that he had once been Suzie’s occasional lover.

“So you decided to stalk Ianto instead.”

“Yes and on my third night, George approached me.”

“George?”

“Third.  We both realised we were there doing the same thing, we exchanged stories and decided to let the other watch as well.

“It only took a couple of nights for me to start to sit with him.  Stalking is quite a very lonely occupation.

“A few days after that he bought me a laptop.”

“A laptop?”

“Yes and I freaked out I can tell you.  After what Suzie did to me I was still flinching whenever someone so much as tapped me on my shoulder.

“George tried to reassure me that he didn’t want anything for the laptop.  It was just that I was blessed because I knew Ianto and he wanted me to do well at Uni.  George didn’t want my studies to suffer but he understood why I had to watch Ianto.

“We both ignored it for a couple of nights and then I started using it.  Took me a few weeks to realise I wasn’t stalking Ianto to watch him anymore I was doing it to be with George.

“George wasn’t a well man but it was months before I persuaded him to see a doctor and when we finally got the results back they were devastating.

“I realised then that I loved George.  It felt so unfair that but I knew I had no more time to waste so we made love for the first time that night,” there were tears in Evan’s eyes and Owen had no doubt that his feelings were genuine.

“According to Gwen that was the night Suzie died,” Owen said quietly.

Evan smiled at the irony that the woman who had hurt him so badly had left this world the night he gave himself to the man who loved and healed him.

“When I woke the next morning in his arms he looked down at me as though I was a miracle.  It was as though it no longer mattered that his time was shortened because he had that night.  The first thing he said that morning was to ask me to marry him.”

“Marry him?” Owen exclaimed and Evan moved his left hand to show the band of gold that gleamed there.

“Well, civil partnership really.  My brother didn’t understand it either but I think he must have asked Ianto because he gave us his blessing.”

“Ianto knew?” Owen felt he was getting lost in Evan’s joyful nostalgia.

“Yes I invited him to the ceremony as a friend of the family.  He could only stay for the ceremony itself but he took the time after to wish us both good luck and the hope of happiness.

“George was stunned with delight.  It was as thought it was no longer just me that was blessed but George to.”

“When was this?” Owen asked wondering when Ianto found the time to get away.

“A few days before you lot found out about Lisa.”

That explained it.  Ianto went to a seminar held by the Tourist Office a few days before they found out about the Cyberwoman, they had thought he’d taken the time to go as part of his plotting. 

Evan’s story made Owen feel that he had misjudged his friend.  It also saddened him that Ianto had felt so isolated and pressured that he had to fake a tourist board seminar to go to a friend’s Civil Partnership Ceremony.

“When George died, Ianto couldn’t come to the funeral but he arranged it for me.  He took care of all the legal stuff and made sure I got counselling and that there were people to look after me.

“When he finally did get a chance to give me his condolences, he was heartbroken himself.  He was all concerned about me but there was no light in his eyes anymore because Jack had left him.

“If I still had any feelings for him that would have been my moment.  I know what true love is now and while Ianto means a great deal to me, I don’t love him,” Evan said looking to Owen to believe him.

The medic did.  Evan no longer spoke of Ianto with desire he had when they first met, only with admiration.  The Welshman could only be a few years older but somehow he’d become this young man’s father figure, his guardian.

“What about the others?”

“Daniel, Fourth, died peacefully in his sleep a couple of nights ago.  His duty was done that was all he’d been waiting for.

“Paul and Jane have also gone.  I don’t know where but I know they will be getting married.  George and I weren’t the only ones to find love.

“You won’t tell him will you?” Evan suddenly looked very scared, the same as he had when Owen first met him.

“No I won’t tell him as long as you pass all your exams,” Owen replied with a smile.

Evan beamed and for the first time since they started talking looked as young as he was.  He said a quick thank you and hurried away to his next lecture.

Owen debated whether or not he should keep his promise.  He decided that he would tell Jack and left the decision to him.

However the Medic never did tell Jack about his conversation with Evan because when he got back his patient was awake.


	35. Chapter Thirty-five

Ianto Jones opened his eyes and smiled as he looked into to Jack’s.  His heart gladdened to see his smile returned.

He noticed someone in his periphery vision and turned to see Tosh looking anxious.

“How are you Tosh?” he croaked and Jack leaned over him to give him some water to sip.

“I’m fine Ianto.  I’m so sorry,” she replied.

“You don’t have to be sorry.  If it hadn’t been you it would have been Gwen,” Ianto told her in what she knew instantly was not an ordinary reassuring platitude. 

Ianto Jones had saved the day for her.  Because Toshiko Sato was in peril he’d been his most devious to beat Duram.

Toshiko glanced shyly at Jack but he hadn’t picked up on the Welshman’s meaning.  She smiled to let Ianto know that she’d understood.  If it had been Gwen who had been given the virus things might have had a very different outcome.

To Ianto, Gwen was a valuable colleague, even a friend, but she did not mean as much to him as Tosh did.  Worse, there was that slight rivalry and jealousy over Jack’s affections that might have made the Welshman hesitate when it came to saving her.

She knew that he would have regretted it, especially as Jack might not have been as willing to shoot Gwen as he had Toshiko, but that was something it was best not to dwell on.

Tosh had the strange urge to tell Jack that he was a lucky man especially as Ianto was such a good kisser.  She was saved from it however by the arrival of Owen.

The Medic sent her out to get Ianto something to eat, vegetable soup with bread and butter, fruit juice and cold roast chicken.  She kissed her friend on the cheek and hurried away.

Jack stayed beside Ianto as Owen did his exam.  He ran his fingers through the sort hair on the Welshman’s head though his hands strayed occasionally to his hairless skin.

“Down boys.  No strenuous physical activities until I say so and that goes double of sex while I’m still here,” the medic grouched as he noticed the effect Jack’s attentions were having on his patient the immortal growled at him but stopped his hands from wandering. 

“I don’t know if Captain Touchy Feely has mentioned this to you but your DNA doesn’t appear to have returned to normal.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that your immune system appears to be producing more than your standard human lymphocytes.”

“Pharen didn’t want to hurt me, she was a slave.”

“I don’t think these cells are hurting you.  I just think your body now has extra defences against alien infections.”

“Perhaps it was a gift of thanks or an apology because of what I went through,” Ianto suggested.

“Perhaps but I’m going to be keeping an eye on you for a while.  Your body seems to have settled down but you’re going to feel tired and hungry for a while.”

The rest of the exam was uneventful, although Owen wouldn’t let him leave until Ianto had eaten the meal Tosh returned with and promised to go straight home and rest.

Ianto headed for the shower with Jack in tow.  The immortal kept watching him as he showered, telling him that he was going to be staying the night in the Hub and that he would look after him.

The Welshman listened to everything as he washed and got dressed.  Then he turned to Jack and gave the immortal a passionate kiss.

“I don’t have the sixth virus anymore and they don’t have their viruses either, we have no interest in each other.  So we’re going back to my flat tonight and you can look after me there.”

Ianto walked back towards the main Hub so Jack had no chance to protest.  He knew he was pouting when the Welshman smiled at him to tell him he wasn’t going to get away with that kind of behaviour tonight.

As soon as Ianto entered the main Hub he was instantly engulfed in a hug from Gwen.  She fired questions about how he was and whether or not he was okay.

Ianto patiently answered all of them as Gwen’s hand stroked his cheek, making Jack feel a little jealous but reassuring the Welshwoman that he human again.

“Has Owen said that it’s okay for you to leave?”

“Yes he’d told me to go home and rest, so Jack’s going to drive Tosh and me to the park,” Ianto answered making the immortal sigh and the technical genius smile with surprised delight.

Gwen nodded with understanding.  Tosh hadn’t exactly got the rest she was supposed to have while watching Ianto when he was unconscious.

She also knew the Welshman wanted to be outside for a while before being cooped up again.  Seeing the look on his face, Gwen wondered if Jack was only invited because he would have followed them anyway.

Jack drove them to park wishing that his lover wasn’t such a generous man.  All he wanted was to be alone with him and reassure himself that Ianto was fine, but he knew that Tosh needed reassurance of her own which the Welshman wanted her to have.

They sat in a quiet spot in the park where they could watch other people.  None of them could think of anything to say so they began to make up stories about the people they watched.

After an hour Ianto lay down on the blanket and fell asleep.  Tosh and Jack kept up the game a little longer before the technical genius decided that she too was tired and curled up to sleep beside the Welshman.

Jack felt a jealous spike as he suddenly felt that he the fifth wheel.  Yet he couldn’t bring himself to wake either of them after what they’d been through.

When they woke Ianto insisted that the three of them go out to dinner.   Both Tosh and Jack looked at each other feeling awkward but the Welshman would allow no arguments.

Over dinner Ianto achieved his goal.  He used good food and conversation to mend the tiny fractures between his lover and his best friend while neither of them noticed.

By the end of the evening they were both so relaxed in each other’s company that they no longer worried about the fact that Toshiko had been possessed by a threatening alien and that Jack had seriously considered shooting her.

They drove Tosh home before going to Ianto’s flat.  They watched a film but the Welshman fell asleep before then end.

Jack carried him to bed, took off their clothes and spooned in behind Ianto as he slept.  He held him gently feeling the reassuring warmth radiating from him; so different from the coldness when he was covered in scales when the immortal was being gassed.

It wasn’t until the next morning when breakfast was nearly over that Jack asked the question he’d wanted to know the answer to since Ianto turned the tables of Duram.

“Weren’t you tempted to change anything?”

“Of course I was just as you were.  But I think that unlike you I thought through the consequences of each change.”

“What do you mean?”

“Jack there are a thousand things I thought of changing from us to the battle of Canary Wharf.  If I stopped the battle I might never have met you and if I changed something with us then what we have would cease to be real.

“You warned Pharen’s people of the dangers of using a temporal manipulator.  How the smallest of changed could alter an entire society.

“That’s what the nightmare was about.  It was a warning about a very personal fear, the death of your own little universe leading to the destruction of all.”

Jack shuddered as he remembered the vision of Ianto falling onto the sandy beach, his blood fusing the sand into glass as the universe began to burn.

The Welshman’s hand suddenly covered his.  It stroked the back of Jack’s hand until the immortal looked into Ianto’s eyes.

“My personal universe has been destroyed several times; I don’t want to be responsible for destroying everyone else’s. 

“Especially as my personal universe is just starting to get to the good bit and no temporal manipulator can improve it, only you can do that,” Ianto turned away as he quietly said the last five words so Jack almost didn’t hear them.

Jack felt his whole being swell with affection.  What he was feeling was more than that, but recent events had left him feeling too fragile to admit it.

He kissed Ianto and hoped that the Welshman understood.  Jack’s own personal universe was improving every day thanks to his young lover.

Jack finally understood his lover’s resolve. 

He could look back over the whole of his live at all the things he wished weren’t so but without them, Jack wouldn’t be in this wonderful man’s kitchen eating breakfast while he subtly fell in love.

Ianto gave the dreamy expression on Jack’s face a strange look.  Like it was the last thing he expected to see and couldn’t understand the thoughts behind it.

Jack gave his Welsh lover a quick kiss and then cleared the dishes away.  Ianto laughed as he stripped off so that he wouldn’t get his clothes wet while he washed up.

As he attacked the forces of dirt and grime Jack began to plot the best way he could show Ianto how glad he was to have him.

 

Fin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that you have enjoyed this story. The next story in the Awaiting Universe is Getting There In Time, which I will begin posting shortly.


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